UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT  LOS  ANGELES 


of 

AT 


THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 


THE  HEALTH  OF 
THE  CITY 


BY 

HOLLIS  GODFREY 

Sc.D.,  ENG.D.,  LL.D.,  D.C.L.,  F.R.G.S.,  ETC. 

President  of  Drexel  Institute,  Philadelphia;  Commissioner  of  the 

Advisory  Commission  of  the  Council  of  National  Defense,  in 

charge  of  the  Section  of  Engineering  and  Education 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YOEK 

HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN  COMPANY 

(OEfte  ffitontfibe  ptcsj-f  Cambribge 


135406 


COPYRIGHT,   1910,  BY  HOLLIS  GODFREY 
ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED 

Published  May  iqio 


PREFACE 

THE  ten  descriptive  chapters  of  this  volume, 
eight  of  which  have  been  published  in  a  more 
or  less  abbreviated  form  in  the   "Atlantic 
Monthly,"  represent  four  years  of  personal  in- 
J?      vestigation  of  the  health  problems  of  the  city- 
^      dweller.  During  that  period  many  other  duties 
A\    have  demanded  attention,  but  scarcely  a  week 
has  passed  without  some  advance  in  the  work 
on  city  health.  And  each  advance  has  shown 
more  clearly  the  complexity  of  the  municipal 
*       problems   involved,   each   has   defined  more 
^      sharply  the  fact  that  only  through  the  work 
of  many  men  advancing  along  many  lines  can 
the  questions  at  issue  be  fully  treated.  I  make 
no  claim  to  comprehensive  treatment  here. 

My  effort  has  been  to  record  in  non-tech- 
nical English  what  is  known  of  the  actual 
harm  or  harmlessness  to  the  people  of  the  city 
of  such  every-day  affairs  as  air,  water,  wastes, 
food,  housing,  and  noise,  to  give  some  account 
of  certain  civic  conditions  which  are  working 
evil,  and  to  tell  of  some  of  the  organized  move- 
ments which  are  striving  for  the  welfare  of  the 


viii  PREFACE 

people  of  the  crowded  streets.  I  have  tried  most 
of  all  to  show  the  wonderful  advances  that  sani- 
tary science  has  made  in  the  work  of  cleans- 
ing the  city,  and,  through  the  account  of  some 
researches  undertaken  for  the  public  good,  to 
impress  upon  the  citizen  the  necessity  of  a 
greater  reliance  on  the  deductions  of  modern 
science. 

Many  students  have  noted  the  migration  of 
the  last  decades  which  has  taken  so  many 
thousands  from  the  life  of  the  individual  farm, 
where  each  householder  controlled  his  own 
supplies,  to  the  present  community  life,  where 
no  man  controls  the  sources  of  the  necessities 
which  enter  his  household.  With  that  passing 
has  come  the  recognition  of  the  fact  that  the 
municipality,  since  its  citizens  can  no  longer 
properly  guard  themselves  or  their  families, 
must  have  public  servants  who  can  guard  each 
individual  by  their  guardianship  of  the  whole. 
Many  American  cities  which  have  accepted 
this  theory  have  failed  when  they  have  tried 
to  put  it  into  execution.  They  have  not  shown 
sufficient  care  in  their  selection  of  public  ser- 
vants. They  have  not  given  the  men  they 
have  chosen  the  necessary  freedom  from  politi- 
cal control.  They  have  been  slow  in  passing 


PREFACE  ix 

new  protective  laws.  They  have  not  provided 
appropriations  to  enforce  laws  already  passed. 
It  is  not  too  much  to  ask  that  the  men  who  are 
to  guard  the  health  of  the  community  should  be 
trained  for  that  work,  that  they  should  be  free 
from  political  control,  and  that  they  should  be 
supported  by  carefully  framed  laws,  enforced 
and  made  available  by  sufficient  appropria- 
tions. It  is  the  great  task  of  the  coming  years 
to  educate  the  people  of  the  cities  to  the  point 
where  they  will  demand  not  only  health  for 
themselves  but  for  their  brothers,  not  only 
life  for  their  own  child  but  for  every  child. 

The  printed  sources  from  which  statements 
given  here  have  been  obtained  are  indicated 
in  many  instances  in  the  text.  A  final  chapter 
contains  a  brief  and  selected  bibliography, 
designed  to  give  an  outline  of  sources  and  to 
be  of  actual  working  use.  The  list  of  refer- 
ences therein  given  contains  those  books  which 
have  proved  of  the  most  value  in  the  work, 
and  gives  the  genesis  of  much  of  the  material 
secured  from  the  printed  page.  Those  results 
which  have  been  obtained  by  personal  investi- 
gation can,  of  course,  trace  no  direct  connec- 
tion with  any  previous  publication. 

Any  student  of  this  subject  must  recognize 


x  PREFACE 

the  difficulty  of  obtaining  accurate  generaliza- 
tions from  the  statistics  furnished  by  some 
American  cities.  For  example,  take  the  mortal- 
ity of  children  under  five  years  of  age.  The 
improvement  in  standards  of  living,  combined 
with  the  work  of  some  of  the  pure  milk  cru- 
sades, gives  wholly  different  figures  in  1910, 
in  a  selected  group  of  cities,  than  1900  fur- 
nished. A  still  greater  obstacle  to  this  special 
investigation  is  the  lax  methods  employed  by 
some  municipalities  in  the  recording  of  such 
matters  as  total  births.  In  still  other  cases,  as 
especially  in  the  housing  of  the  people,  statis- 
tics have  been  gathered  chiefly  by  private  or 
semi-public  associations,  and  no  effective  effort 
has  been  made  by  the  public  authorities  to  col- 
lect accurate  information  concerning  existent 
conditions.  I  shall  be  glad  at  any  time  to  know 
of  changing  conditions  along  any  of  the  lines 
considered  in  this  volume. 

I  have  gained  much  of  my  data  from  books. 
I  have  gained  more  from  personal  visits  of  in- 
spection made  in  the  cities  of  this  country  and 
of  Europe.  I  have  gained  most  of  all  from 
men.  During  the  course  of  the  investigation 
I  have  talked  and  corresponded  with  men  of 
every  type,  with  street-cleaners,  garbage  men, 


PREFACE 


xi 


and  market  men,  business  men,  doctors,  and 
engineers,  with  any  one,  in  short,  who  could 
shed  any  light  on  the  things  I  wished  to  know. 
State  and  municipal  authorities  of  England, 
Germany,  and  the  United  States,  members 
of  private  and  public  associations  engaged  in 
various  welfare  movements,  officials  of  cor- 
porations and  universities,  have  given  me 
assistance.  It  is  impossible  to  name  the  many 
individuals  who  have  done  so  much  for  me  in 
so  many  ways.  Here  and  now,  I  wish  to  offer 
my  sincere  appreciation  of  the  many  courte- 
sies I  have  received. 

The  entire  proof  has  been  read  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  economist  by  Professor  Henry 
C.  Metcalf  of  Tufts  College,  from  the  stand- 
point of  the  physician  by  Doctor  Lincoln  F. 
Sise,  of  Medford,  Massachusetts,  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  sanitary  engineer  by  E.  C. 
Howe  of  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Tech- 
nology. The  advice  and  assistance  of  each  of 
these  readers  has  been  of  great  value. 

I  believe  the  names  of  the  two  men  who 
have  most  influenced  me  in  my  scientific  work, 
Professor  John  Sterling  Kingsley  of  Tufts 
College  and  Professor  William  T.  Sedgwick  of 
the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology, 


xii  PREFACE 

should  also  appear  in  this  Preface.  I  am  glad 
to  have  this  opportunity  of  declaring  the  debt 
I  owe  to  them. 

HOLLIS  GODFREY. 


CONTENTS 

I.  AIR 

The  smoke  nuisance.  Its  prevention  and  control.  Dust 
and  the  germ  theory  of  disease.  The  micro-organic 
life  of  the  city  streets.  Dust  and  tuberculosis.  Pave- 
ments and  cleansing  processes.  The  air  of  subways. 
Light,  cleanliness,  and  the  prevention  of  disease  .  .  1 

II.  THE  MILK-SUPPLY 

Milk  and  infantile  mortality.  Pure  milk.  Dirty  milk. 
Milk  as  a  medium  for  the  spreading  of  disease.  Milk 
frauds  and  dangers.  What  a  dairy  farm  should  be. 
Methods  of  improving  the  city  milk-supply.  Sterili- 
zation and  pasteurization.  The  milk-supply  of  institu- 
tions. New  uses  for  lactic  acid  bacteria.  Certified 
milk  and  inspection 30 

HI.  THE  CITY'S  FOOD 

Food  as  a  factor  in  the  struggle  for  commercial  suprem- 
acy. The  natural  and  unnatural  dangers  to  which  food 
is  exposed.  The  garden  of  the  air  and  the  molds,  yeasts, 
and  bacteria  that  live  therein.  The  preservation  of 
foods.  The  sale  of  impure  foods.  Federal  food  laws 
and  their  limitations.  State  and  municipal  regulation 
of  food.  Markets.  How  they  may  serve  the  city  best. 
Abattoirs  and  their  control.  Bakeries  and  the  regula- 
tions which  should  govern  them 68 

IV.  THE  FOOD  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL 
The  composition  of  the  human  mechanism.  Proteids,  car- 
bohydrates and  fats,  mineral  salts  and  water.  The  ser- 


xiv  CONTENTS 

vice  of  the  nutrients.  What  some  experts  have  said  of 
the  amount  of  meat  required  for  daily  fare.  The  work 
of  Chittenden,  and  of  some  other  students  of  food 
values.  Nitrogenous  equilibrium.  Over-  and  under- 
feeding. The  fallacy  of  specialized  foods.  The  eco- 
nomic value  of  a  knowledge  of  marketing  and  cooking. 
Vocational  training,  welfare  work,  and  factory  lunch- 
eons. Some  old  and  new  experimental  work  along 
these  lines 92 


V.  CITY  WATER  AND  CITY  WASTE 
Guarding  the  water-supply.  Water-borne  disease. 
Ground-water  and  surface-water.  Natural  filtration. 
Storage  as  a  purifying  factor.  Continuous  filtration. 
Mechanical  filtration.  Household  filters.  Sewage  as 
the  source  of  the  infection  of  water-supplies.  Dilution 
and  separation  of  wastes.  The  sewage  farm.  Different 
methods  of  filtration  used  to  purify  sewage.  The  con- 
tact bed.  The  sprinkling  filter.  Chemical  disinfecting 
of  water.  The  septic  tank.  The  household  filter  .  .  127 

VI.   ICE 

Natural  and  artificial  ice.  Crystallization.  Upper  layer 
ice.  Snow  ice.  The  joining  of  ice  cakes.  Impurities  in 
natural  and  in  artificial  ice.  The  elimination  of  bacteria 
from  ice.  Some  researches  to  determine  the  effect  of 
freezing  upon  bacterial  life.  The  reproduction  of  nat- 
ural conditions  in  the  laboratory.  Storage  of  ice.  The 
danger  of  contamination  from  handling.  How  the  mu- 
nicipality can  regulate  the  ice-supply  for  the  public 
good 158 

VII.  SEWER-GAS  AND  PLUMBING 
The  common  fear  of  sewer-gas.  Two  theories  of  its  harm- 
fulness.  City  disposal  of  sewage.  Comparing  the  air 
of  the  street  and  the  air  of  the  sewer.  Some  charac- 


CONTENTS  xv 

teristic  bacteria  found  in  sewage.  The  different  stand- 
points of  Britain,  Germany,  and  the  United  States  on 
sewer-gas  problems.  Early  experiments  and  later 
researches  on  sewer  air.  Vital  resistance  and  predis- 
position to  disease.  The  present  status  of  sewer-gas 
problems 194 

VIII.  THE  CITY'S  NOISE 

The  noise  habit.  The  influence  of  noise  upon  disease. 
Whistling.  Signaling  by  the  eye  instead  of  the  ear. 
Attempts  to  minimize  the  evil.  The  noises  of  the  city. 
The  crusade  against  noise.  What  that  crusade  has 
accomplished.  The  work  of  Mrs.  Isaac  L.  Rice  and  of 
the  Society  for  the  Suppression  of  Unnecessary  Noise  231 

IX.  CITY  HOUSING  ABROAD 
The  lack  of  proper  housing.  Overcrowding  and  the 
slums.  The  slum  disease  and  the  death-rate  of  the 
crowded  streets.  The  cost  of  sun,  air,  and  water  in  the 
slum.  German  theories  of  housing.  Town  planning. 
Building  of  model  tenements.  Cooperative  Societies 
and  housing.  The  demolition  of  the  slum.  "Zone 
Systems."  Gardens  and  garden  allotments.  English 
Housing  Acts.  Garden  Cities.  The  work  of  Miss  Oc- 
tavia  Hill.  The  influence  on  housing  in  Belgium  of 
the  policy  of  the  Belgian  railways 263 

X.  CITY  HOUSING  IN  AMERICA 
The  slum  as  a  culture  medium  of  disease.  The  econo- 
mic cost  to  tax-payer  and  rent-payer  of  the  existing 
congestion.  Actual  conditions  in  a  group  of  American 
cities.  Local  conditions  which  affect  the  problem.  The 
necessity  that  housing  plans  should  consider  the 
personal  equation  of  each  city.  The  danger  of  fire  in 
the  tenements.  Housing  commissions  and  housing 
departments.  The  relation  between  rapid  transit  and 
housing.  General  problems  of  housing  control  .  .  .  302 


xvi  CONTENTS 

XI.  A  SELECTED  BIBLIOGRAPHY 
Journals,  Bacteriology,  Hygiene  and   Sanitation,  Air, 
Milk,  Food)  Water,  Sewage,  Ice,  Plumbing,  Noise, 
Housing,  Tuberculosis 346 

INDEX ,..,..  359 


THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 


THE 
HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 


AIR 

WHEN,  on  that  long-past  burning  August  day, 
the  wide-mouthed  crater  of  Vesuvius  poured 
down  an  overwhelming  cloud  on  little  Hercu- 
laneum  and  greater  Pompeii,  the  daily  life  of 
rich  and  poor  was  choked  out  suddenly  by  that 
terrific  burial  in  dust.  As  we  escape  from  some 
fierce  dust-storm  in  our  cities,  gasping  and 
coughing  with  the  load  of  dirt  which  has  envel- 
oped us,  as  we  behold  dark  wreaths  of  heavy 
smoke  pouring  from  soft-coal  fires  on  every 
side,  the  thought  must  sometimes  come  that  our 
communities  to-day  endure  a  peril  far  too  much 
like  that  which,  in  that  distant  time,  engulfed 
city  and  town  about  the  Bay  of  Naples. 

What  does  the  air  of  the  city  hold?  How  does 
it  differ  from  pure  mountain  air  ?  Wherein  lie 
its  dangers?  What  can  be  found  to  rem- 
edy its  perils?  All  these  are  questions  whose 


2  THE  HEALTH   OF  THE  CITY 

answer  immediately  concerns  every  dweller  in 
community  centres.  We  know,  chemically 
speaking,  that  air  in  its  normal  state  is  com- 
posed chiefly  of  oxygen  and  nitrogen,  approxi- 
mately one  fifth  oxygen  to  four  fifths  nitrogen. 
Besides  these  it  contains  some  carbon  diox- 
ide, a  little  water-vapor,  a  few  inert  elementary 
gases,  and  small  traces  of  compounds  formed 
from  nitrogen.  How  much  do  we  know  of 
the  burdens  which  the  air  carries,  or  of  the 
wealth  of  life  which  the  atmosphere  holds? 
Day  after  day  we  go  trudging  to  and  fro  along 
our  various  paths,  at  the  bottom  of  a  gaseous 
ocean  which  surrounds  us,  eating  and  sleeping, 
working  with  hand  and  brain,  yet  giving 
scarce  a  thought  to  the  essential  part  which 
the  air  plays  in  our  common  life. 

Of  all  the  engines  cunningly  devised  by  man, 
not  one  can  equal  that  masterpiece  of  construc- 
tion, the  engine  of  the  human  frame.  To  run 
that  engine,  air  is  the  first  necessity.  Construct 
it  how  you  will,  the  greater  part  of  the  energy 
which  feeds  a  power-plant  is  lost  before  it 
reaches  the  applying  machine.  The  body  only 
has  the  power  of  using  energy  really  economi- 
cally and  efficiently.  Its  food  is  its  fuel.  To  be 
available,  all  the  constituents  of  that  food  must 


AIR  3 

be  burned,  producing  heat  and  power.  For 
that  burning  the  oxygen  of  the  air  is  essential. 
The  quality  of  the  air  we  breathe  must  have 
an  immediate  effect  upon  the  human  frame. 

Farther  and  farther  outward  stretch  the 
high  city  walls  of  brick  and  stone, — engulfing 
tree  and  shrub,  —  laying  bare  grassy  knoll  and 
living  green.  Higher  and  higher  rise  the  chim- 
neys, and  with  their  rise  increases  daily  the 
great  outpouring  of  solids,  rushing  into  the 
air  from  the  fuel  burning  in  the  fires  below. 
Set  a  factory  chimney  in  the  midst  of  a  grassy 
plain,  or  send  forth  huge  volumes  of  hot  gases 
from  a  steamer  in  mid-ocean,  and  the  additions 
to  the  air  are  of  but  little  consequence.  The 
wind  scatters  them  to  infinite  dilution.  The 
air  of  the  city  rising  from  hundreds  of  chim- 
neys and  confining  walls  has  no  such  chance. 
The  task  is  too  heavy  for  even  the  sweeping 
winds  to  accomplish. 

With  the  outpouring  of  the  city's  chimneys 
has  come  a  serious  problem  in  these  later  days, 
a  cloud  which  shadows  all  our  cities,  covering 
with  its  blackness  wall  and  pavement,  entering 
house  and  factory  alike, — the  city's  smoke. 
Life  in  the  soft-coal  cities  comes  to  be  exist- 
ence in  a  gray,  blackened  world.  Whiteness 


4  THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

of  cloth,  cleanliness  of  face  or  hands,  becomes 
a  shadowy  hope,  not  a  reality. 

The  reason  for  these  conditions  is  by  no 
means  hard  to  find.  Soft  coal  differs  from  hard 
coal  most  of  all  in  this:  when  burned,  its  car- 
bon, turning  but  in  part  to  oxide,  leaves  a 
cloud  of  soft  black  soot,  that  carbon  uncom- 
bined  which  soots  the  study -lamp  or  rises  from 
the  snuff  ed-out  candle.  The  coating  which  such 
soot  casts  on  the  lining  of  the  lungs  is  one  of 
the  hardships  of  the  city-dweller,  despite  the 
fact  that  our  breathing-organs  possess  a  most 
extraordinary  power  of  taking  care  of  foreign 
bodies  which  invade  their  midst.  Of  all  the 
particles  that  enter,  no  small  portion  returns, 
coughed  back  from  the  mouth  or  else  ejected 
from  the  nose,  where  tiny  filters  held  these 
solids  as  they  entered.  Those  which  persist 
and  lodge  in  windpipe  or  in  bronchial  tubes 
find  there  a  horde  of  soldiers  placed  to  drive 
the  invader  back,  the  cilia.  These  sentinels 
are  shaped  like  tiny  fingers.  They  stand  at 
this  entrance  to  the  body  and  swing  unceas- 
ingly through  life.  As  they  swing,  they  bear 
invading  solids,  carried  in  the  mucous  stream, 
backward  and  upward  toward  the  mouth. 

Besides  the  cilia,  the  phagocytes,  those  sani- 


AIR  5 

tary  engineers  of  the  blood,  stand  ready  to 
seize,  encompass,  and  destroy  harmful  sub- 
stances that  may  enter. 

Yet  through  all  these  defenses  solids  can 
enter,  and  many  do  enter.  Once  in  the  lungs, 
they  settle  on  the  walls  where  passes  out  car- 
bonic acid  from  the  blood,  where  enters  air 
carrying  life-giving  oxygen  to  the  fires  within. 
Where  they  fall,  they  clog  the  way.  In  city 
life,  the  fresh  pink  of  a  normal  person's  lung 
is  streaked  and  spotted  with  black  lines  which 
chart  the  blocked-up  roads  where  breath  of 
life  once  entered,  where  burned-out  wastes 
once  passed.  In  reason  this  may  do  no  serious 
harm,  because  of  the  tremendous  space  through 
which  the  boundary  walls  extend.  The  trouble 
is  that  we  have  long  since  passed  the  stage  of 
reason  in  many  of  our  cities.  The  flood  pours 
on  unceasingly.  Every  hour  of  every  day  the 
black  smoke  pours  from  the  furnaces  below. 
Scarcely  a  minute  of  the  long  year  goes  by 
without  some  addition  to  the  total  burden. 

In  smoky  cities  the  proper  ventilation  of 
houses,  one  of  the  greatest  essentials  in  stamp- 
ing out  tuberculosis,  becomes  more  difficult. 
The  doors  and  windows  of  the  tenements  are 
closed,  and  the  stifled  air  within  hastens  dis- 


6  THE   HEALTH  OF  THE   CITY 

ease  and  death.  On  humid  days  the  smoke 
which  fills  the  streets  unites  with  the  water- 
vapor  of  the  air  to  form  the  fogs  which  over- 
hang the  city.  Fogs  can  exist  only  when  the 
gaseous  water  of  the  air  is  liquefied  upon  solid 
particles.  The  bits  of  carbon  floating  through 
the  ways  give  such  foundation,  and  the  water 
condensing  on  them  forms  a  mist.  Probably 
without  direct  injurious  effect,  a  fog  depresses, 
renders  resistance  to  disease  more  difficult,  sets 
up  a  barrier  to  the  cleansing,  life-giving  sun. 
The  pity  is  that  most  of  the  evils  which  come 
from  smoke  are  preventable.  Smoke-consumers 
exist  which  have  shown  their  worth.  Due  care 
in  running  fires  will  do  much.  The  fuel  re- 
quired under  careful  management  to  produce 
combustion  which  shall  be  practically  smoke- 
less need  show  but  slight,  if  any,  increase.  It 
is  a  matter  of  community  supervision,  of  laws 
rightly  framed  and  fearlessly  administered. 
Fortunately,  inspection  is  no  difficult  matter. 
One  city,  for  example,  handles  that  problem 
by  means  of  a  chart  holding  six  pictures  of 
a  chimney  above  a  factory,  the  first  of  which 
shows  the  chimney  with  no  smoke,  the  second 
with  a  light  smoke  issuing,  the  other  four 
showing  greater  and  blacker  volumes.  The 


AIR  7 

first  conditions  are  passable.  The  last  are  dan- 
gerous. The  inspector  takes  a  photograph  of 
any  questionable  chimney  and  compares  it  with 
the  standard  pictures.  The  comparison  tells  the 
story.  The  factory  is  pronounced  "passed," 
or  the  owner  is  warned  to  conform  immedi- 
ately to  the  regulations,  under  penalty  of  the 
law. 

The  West  shows  two  cases  which  may  aid 
the  East  in  abatement  of  the  smoke  nuisance. 
In  St.  Paul,  some  years  ago,  the  work  was  given 
over  to  the  department  of  health,  whose  first 
act  was  to  lay  the  following  question  before  the 
local  and  national  unions  of  steam  engineers 
and  firemen :  "  Can  the  smoke  nuisance  as  it 
exists  to-day  be  reasonably  prevented  without 
injury  to  trade  and  manufacturing  interests?" 
This  question  was  unanimously  answered  in 
the  affirmative  by  the  members  of  both  unions. 
Notice  was  taken  of  all  dubious  cases,  and  fines 
were  imposed  when  necessary :  a  minimum  fine 
of  twenty-five  dollars  for  the  first  offense, 
doubled  for  each  succeeding  one.  The  work 
has  been  most  successful,  and  besides  an  abate- 
ment of  smoke,  a  saving  of  fuel  is  reported. 

In  Milwaukee  an  ordinance  which  has  been 
in  force  for  a  considerable  number  of  years, 


8  THE   HEALTH   OF  THE  CITY 

has  been  successful  in  clearing  the  air  of  that 
city.  About  half  the  city  at  the  time  of  a 
recent  report  used  smoke-consuming  devices; 
about  one  fourth  used  hard  coal  or  smokeless 
fuel.  The  general  condition  of  the  city  was 
admirable.  So  admirable,  indeed,  that  the  title 
of  the  ordinance  passed  by  the  Common  Coun- 
cil is  worth  quoting  in  full  as  an  epitome  of 
what  such  an  ordinance  should  be. 

"  An  Ordinance  declaring  it  to  be  a  nuisance 
to  cause  or  permit  dense  black  smoke  to  be 
emitted  from  the  chimneys  or  smoke-stacks  of 
furnaces,  boilers,  heating,  power  or  manufac- 
turing plants,  boats,  vessels,  tugs,  dredges, 
stationary  or  locomotive  engines,  and  creating 
the  office  of  smoke-inspector,  fixing  his  salary 
and  prescribing  his  duties,  and  creating  a  board 
for  the  suppression  of  smoke." 

Close  as  is  the  relation  between  the  pro- 
ducts of  combustion  and  the  public  health, 
there  is  a  yet  closer  one  between  the  other 
burden  which  the  atmosphere  carries  —  dust 
—  and  disease.  For  many  centuries  the  world 
believed  that  air  was  a  vehicle  of  disease, 
and  many  a  historian  of  pestilential  years  told 


AIR  9 

of  foul  and  heavy  vapors  which  hung  daily 
over  doomed  cities  and  seemed  to  carry  death 
as  they  spread.  From  stage  to  stage  passed  the 
beliefs  in  the  causation  of  epidemic  disease, 
but  with  ever-recurring  persistence  they  re- 
turned in  one  way  or  another  to  some  belief 
in  the  transmission  agency  of  the  gases  of  the 
air.  Only  in  that  clarifying  time  when  Schwann 
and  Pasteur,  Lister  and  Tyndall  worked,  was 
it  made  evident  that  the  disease  properties  of 
the  atmosphere  came  not  from  the  air  itself, 
but  from  the  burden  of  living  organisms  which 
it  bore.  From  that  great  demonstration  came 
the  germ  theory  of  disease. 

In  the  rush  of  modern  scientific  research  the 
work  done  a  generation  ago  is  likely  to  be  lost 
to  sight.  It  is  well  worth  a  moment's  pause, 
however,  to  recall  the  brilliant  research  by 
which  John  Tyndall,  in  1868,  proved  the  pre- 
sence of  organic  matter  in  the  air.  Like  many 
another  experimenter,  Tyndall  found  what  he 
did  not  seek.  He  sought  knowledge  on  the 
decomposition  of  vapors  by  light.  He  found 
the  relation  between  dust  and  disease.  The 
sunlight  passing  through  a  chink  in  the  shut- 
ters reveals  its  path  by  the  motes  dancing  in 
its  ray.  To  obtain  the  results  he  wished,  it  was 


10  THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

necessary  for  Tyndall  to  remove  all  floating 
matter  from  the  air  of  his  tubes.  He  at- 
tempted to  do  this  in  various  ways,  finally 
passing  his  air  over  the  flame  of  a  lamp.  To 
his  surprise  the  floating  matter  disappeared. 
It  had  been  burned  by  the  flame.  His  mind 
instantly  leaped  to  the  conclusion  that  it  was 
organic  matter,  though  practically  every  scien- 
tist had  hitherto  believed  that  the  floating 
matter  of  the  air  was  wholly  inorganic  and 
non-combustible.  Tyndall  created  a  living 
world  at  a  bound,  the  world  wherein  moves 
the  living  matter  of  the  air.  He  pushed  his 
inquiry  farther.  He  placed  a  lamp  in  a  beam 
of  light.  Strange  wreaths  of  blackness  rose, 
blacker,  as  he  says,  "  than  the  blackest  smoke 
ever  seen  issuing  from  the  funnel  of  a  steamer." 
Carrying  the  inquiry  on,  he  tried  the  same  ex- 
periment with  red-hot  iron,  to  preclude  any  pos- 
sibility that  the  blackness  might  be  smoke  from 
a  flame.  "  The  same  whirling  masses  of  dark- 
ness rose, — smoke  was  out  of  the  question." 
One  conclusion  remained.  The  darkness  was 
that  of  stellar  space,  of  the  night  which  holds 
between  the  far-hung  stars.  The  heat  had 
burned  the  organic  matter  of  the  air,  the 
inorganic  had  settled,  no  material  substance 


AIR  11 

remained  to  reflect  light.  Dust  was  in  part 
organic.  Nay,  more.  Dust  was  made  up  of  two 
parts:  the  inorganic,  matter  like  the  rolling 
sands  of  the  sea;  the  organic,  largely  germ 
masses  of  living  organisms,  each  infinitesimal, 
yet  each  unit  complete  in  itself. 

These  micro-organisms  of  the  air  were  soon 
proved  capable  of  many  things.  Among  other 
powers,  they  were  proved  to  be  carriers  of  dis- 
ease. The  surgeon's  scalpel  laid  on  a  dusty 
shelf  had  time  after  time  introduced  the  germs 
of  evil  into  the  wound  it  was  meant  to  cure. 
An  operation  was  a  dread  event  where  death 
was  almost  as  likely  as  recovery.  Lister's  dis- 
covery of  the  possibilities  of  bacteriological 
cleanliness  meant  exclusion  of  germ-life  from 
the  surgeon's  hand  as  well  as  from  wound, 
instrument,  and  dressing.  It  brought  life  to 
thousands.  Swiftly  the  new  theory  made  its 
way.  Germ -life  which  could  cause  disease 
existed  in  the  atmosphere.  Methods  arose 
to  combat  the  various  forms  of  ill  which  it 
brought.  Knowledge  grew  as  to  the  specific 
germs  of  evil  and  their  brothers  of  good. 

The  marvelous  life  of  the  earth,  the  teeming 
billions  of  micro-organisms  which  inhabit  the 
soil,  will  be  considered  in  a  later  chapter.  It  is 


12  THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

sufficient  to  recall  here  that  by  far  the  greater 
part  of  the  earth's  surface  contains  a  vigorous 
microscopic  life  which  serves  many  important 
purposes  in  the  economy  of  nature.  When 
earth  is  dried  and  driven  by  the  wind  about 
the  streets,  various  types  of  micro-organisms 
rise  with  the  dust,  clinging  to  sand  or  splinter, 
or  floating  by  themselves.  Of  these  forms,  the 
bacteria  interest  us  the  most.  The  great  service 
which  they  perform  lies  in  the  power  which 
many  of  them  possess  of  taking  worn  out  or 
exhausted  organic  material  and  turning  it  into 
harmless  inorganic  form.  That  service  is  turned 
to  account  in  every  modern  sewage  plant.  The 
great  injury  which  they  may  cause  comes  from 
a  few  forms  in  which  lie  the  beginnings  of  dis- 
ease. Growing  with  intense  rapidity,  these  tiny 
plants,  shaped  like  balls,  rods,  or  spirals,  spread 
wherever  they  may  fall.  Moist  surfaces  hold 
the  germs,  and  besides  the  soil,  they  abound 
in  manure  and  all  decaying  organic  bodies, 
while  those  which  find  suitable  homes  in  the 
human  body  multiply  there  with  serious  re- 
sults. They  appear  in  dust  in  billions  piled 
on  billions,  when  the  dried  earth,  sweeping 
into  the  air  with  the  varying  impulse  of  the 
breeze,  carries  with  it  dried  masses  of  bacteria. 


AIR  13 

The  city  street  is  a  great  centre  of  bacterial 
life.  The  concourse  of  the  mart,  the  moving 
to  and  fro  of  many  people,  the  constant  throw- 
ing forth  of  human  sputum,  the  dirt  brought 
by  the  passing  of  many  horses  and  domes- 
tic animals  confined  within  a  comparatively 
meagre  space,  all  tend  to  furnish  a  constant 
supply  of  bacteria  to  the  soil  of  the  streets. 
When  the  soil  has  once  been  dried,  the  pound- 
ing of  heavy  wagons  and  the  suction  of  the 
great  wheels  of  motor-cars  form  a  fine  pulver- 
ized surface  powder  on  the  road  surface,  ready 
to  rise  in  clouds  with  every  wandering  breeze. 
The  healthiest  period  which  exists  in  city  air 
is  that  during  or  just  after  a  rain  or  snow. 
Moisture  brings  the  germ  content  of  street  air 
most  teeming  with  bacterial  life  to  figures  low 
in  the  extreme.  It  is  true  that  the  great  ma- 
jority of  the  micro-organisms  found  in  dust  die 
after  a  brief  exposure  to  air  and  sunshine.  It 
is  equally  true  that  the  traffic  which  fills  the 
streets  is  constantly  providing  new  hosts  to 
take  the  places  of  the  fallen. 

To  oppose  the  entry  of  any  surviving  germs 
stands  that  same  chain  of  defenses  which 
the  respiratory  tract  raises  against  invad- 
ing coal-dust,  and,  as  well,  that  continuity 


14  THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

of  armor  which  the  body  holds.  Cased  in  the 
air-tight  coverings  of  the  skin  without,  lined 
with  the  barrier  of  the  epithelia  within,  the 
human  frame  is  well  equipped  by  nature  for 
the  war  against  disease.  Those  coverings  must 
be  penetrated  before  disease  can  enter.  A 
ragged  sliver  in  the  hand  or  foot  often  pro- 
duces injuries  far  from  proportional  to  its  size. 
Why  ?  because  the  poisoned  arrow  of  the 
Malay,  though  swifter,  carries  no  more  toxic 
poison  than  may  come  from  a  splinter  of  the 
streets.  The  danger  of  the  dust  lies,  beyond 
all  else,  in  the  fact  that  every  dust-storm,  bear- 
ing thousands  of  small  sharp  grains  of  sand, 
tiny  splinters  of  wood,  and  bits  of  stone,  is  a 
flight  of  poisoned  arrows  driven  against  the 
body  covering  of  the  passer-by.  The  poison 
which  they  bear  may  or  may  not  come  from 
the  dried  organic  matter  of  the  street.  It  may 
be  lying  at  the  point  of  entrance  where  the 
germs  growing  in  the  warm  moisture  of  the 
respiratory  tract  lurk  within  the  body,  like 
bandits  beneath  a  fortress  wall.  In  whatever 
way  they  come,  it  is  most  difficult  for  bacteria 
to  pass  through  the  body  armor  except  when 
sharp  particles  such  as  those  of  dust  make 
wounds  or  lesions  in  the  inner  walls.  Once 


AIR  15 

such  openings  are  made,  dangerous  micro- 
organisms are  but  too  ready  to  avail  themselves 
of  the  opportunity.  When  they  are  within, 
disease  of  major  or  minor  type  may  show  its 
presence. 

Within  the  walls  of  dwelling,  hall,  or  office- 
building,  the  direct  dust-storm  penetrates  less 
easily,  but  only  too  often  comes  another 
danger  from  the  difficulty  of  removing  the 
fine  cloud  of  dust  which  enters  by  every  door 
and  window  from  the  streets,  coating  the  fur- 
niture, hanging  to  curtain  and  rug,  and  cling- 
ing there  with  a  persistence  which  renders 
many  a  city  home  a  veritable  storehouse  of 
ancient  micro-organic  life.  Especially  is  this 
true  where  hangings  of  cloth,  upholstered 
furniture,  and  heavy  carpets  furnish  excel- 
lent abiding-places  for  the  germs.  Few  sani- 
tary reforms  have  meant  more  than  modern 
hardwood  floors,  light  upholstered  furniture, 
vacuum  cleaning,  and  washable  curtains. 

One  question  must  inevitably  rise  with  any 
discussion  of  these  points.  "  If  such  dangers 
exist  about  us  in  the  city  air  which  we  all 
breathe,  how  can  any  escape  ?  "  It  is  easy  to 
understand  the  freedom  of  individuals  from 
specific  contagion  such  as  comes  from  impure 


16          THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

•water  or  impure  milk.  Disease  from  such 
causes  can  strike  only  in  isolated  spots  or  sep- 
arate communities.  It  is  far  more  difficult  to 
understand  the  immunity  which  is  afforded 
the  individual  in  the  smoke  and  dust-laden 
air  of  thousands  of  American  cities.  Yet  there 
is  no  question  that  great  numbers  show  no 
signs  of  harm.  Their  vital  resistance  is  so 
great  as  to  make  them  triumphant  over  any 
form  of  disease.  On  the  other  hand,  since 
there  are  thousands  in  any  community  who 
are  susceptible  to  these  attacks,  it  is  the  duty 
of  the  whole  community  to  shield  those  thou- 
sands. 

One  germ  found  in  dust  needs  especial 
mention.  Tuberculosis,  which  may  be  classed 
among  the  dust  diseases,  ravages  our  country 
beyond  all  other  plagues  to-day.  The  con- 
sumptive sheds  hundreds  and  thousands  of 
living  tubercle  bacilli  every  time  he  sends 
forth  sputum  where  it  can  mix  with  the  dust 
of  street  or  room.  Once  mixed  with  that  dust, 
deposited  on  sand  or  other  cutting  particle,  the 
poisoned  weapon  flies  upward,  ready  to  cut 
through  and  enter  the  body  through  the  lesion 
formed  in  the  lungs.  And  remember  that 
every  careless  sufferer  from  tuberculosis  is  a 


AIR  17 

constant  centre  of  infection.  Grant  that  a  large 
portion  of  the  countless  billions  of  tubercle 
bacilli  die  in  light  and  air,  grant  that  organ- 
ized warfare  against  the  evil  is  making  a  per- 
ceptible impression,  and  still  the  appalling  roll 
of  deaths  from  this  cause  will  show  how  many 
infected  mortals  must  walk  the  city  streets 
and  sleep  in  the  city's  rooms.  In  case  after 
case  we  find  in  the  lungs  of  perfectly  healthy 
persons  small  tubercular  lesions  which  have 
healed,  showing  that  they  were  able  to  com- 
bat the  poison  when  attacked.  But  how  about 
the  time  of  low  resistance  ?  How  can  the  citi- 
zen tell  when  that  time  may  come  to  him  or  to 
his  family  ?  The  magnificent  crusade  against 
tuberculosis  is  doing  much  to  convince  the 
individual  of  the  necessity  of  care  against 
scattering  contagion.  The  municipality  can  do 
one  part  toward  the  stamping  out  of  the  plague 
by  a  steady  constant  struggle  to  achieve  the 
cleanest  possible  street.  That  ideal  street  will 
fail  in  its  purpose,  if  its  construction  does  not 
first  of  all  prevent  mechanical  wounds  to  the 
passers-by  through  the  agency  of  winged  par- 
ticles of  harsh  dust. 

In  the  dirt  of  the  assembly  hall,  of  the  the- 
atre, of  the  hotel  and  the  railway-car  we  find 


18  THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

conditions  in  which  the  difficulties  which  exist 
in  the  private  house  are  fourfold  multiplied. 
For  hours  the  crowds  of  people  in  such  places 
sit  breathing  the  accumulated  dust  brought 
from  the  streets,  which,  rising  from  the  floor, 
floats  in  clouds  into  the  air  and  settles  heavily 
on  the  antiquated  plush  still  in  high  favor  for 
such  places.  It  is  but  a  year  or  two  ago  that 
the  newspapers  considered  briefly  the  dangers 
of  that  bacterial  paradise,  the  Pullman  sleep- 
ing-car. A  brief  spasm  of  remonstrance  passed 
over  the  country,  and  disappeared  as  suddenly 
as  it  came.  The  peril  from  such  sources  was, 
however,  recognized  two  decades  ago,  by  more 
than  one,  and  these  words  of  Dr.  Mitchell 
Prudden,  concerning  the  presence  of  tuber- 
culosis in  such  places,  written  almost  as  long 
ago,  are  no  less  true  to-day :  — 

"  Sleeping-cars  and  the  staterooms  of  steam- 
ships and  hotel  bedrooms  are  almost  always 
liable  to  contain  infectious  material,  if  they 
have  been  recently  used  by  uncleanly  consump- 
tives or  those  ignorant  of  the  danger  of  their 
expectoration.  When  the  infectious  nature  of 
consumption  becomes  generally  appreciated, 
hotels  and  transportation  companies  over  long 
routes  will  be  compelled  to  provide  special 


AIR  19 

accommodations  for  such  persons  as  are  known 
to  be  thus  affected." 

Tuberculosis  is  but  one  of  the  contagious 
diseases  which  can  be  spread  in  this  way,  and 
its  outdoor  treatment  is  coming  more  and  more 
to  be  recognized  as  consisting  primarily  of 
three  things.  First,  —  that  the  patient  shall 
have  an  ample  supply  of  good  nourishing 
food.  Second,  —  that  the  patient  shall  have 
an  abundance  of  oxygen-laden  air.  Third, 
—  that  that  air  shall  be  as  free  as  possible 
from  all  impurities.  Climate  and  environ- 
ment, important  as  they  may  be  in  many 
cases,  both  seem  to  be  secondary  to  these  re- 
quirements, and  the  spread  of  outdoor  treat- 
ment from  its  original  field  of  tuberculosis  to 
that  of  other  respiratory  diseases,  such  as 
grippe  and  pneumonia,  is  along  the  same  line. 

First  of  all  steps  to  be  taken  in  freeing  the 
city  from  dust,  is  the  laying  of  proper  pave- 
ments. Most  of  our  present  pavements  are  little 
better  than  those  of  common  country  roads 
piled  high  in  time  of  drought  with  shifting 
sands.  So  long  as  dry  and  unstable  earth  caps 
the  broken  stone  of  many  a  city  street,  so  long 
the  dust-clouds  will  send  many  a  patient  to  the 
doctors  and  the  hospitals.  The  increasing  use 


20  THE  HEALTH   OF  THE  CITY 

of  the  automobile  will  inevitably  make  proper 
street-cleansing  easier.  To-day  the  roads  torn 
up  by  the  suction  of  the  huge  machines  show 
little  promise  of  advance,  but  the  future  should 
tell  a  different  tale.  Continuous  pavements  like 
those  of  asphalt  are  ideal,  because  of  their 
smoothness  for  motor  carriage,  and  when  the 
horse  passes  from  the  city,  streets  so  paved 
will  be  wholly  available.  There  can  be  little 
doubt  that  the  horse  in  time  will  have  to  go, 
as  almost  all  the  other  wild  and  domestic  beasts 
have  disappeared  from  community  centres.  An 
anachronism  in  himself,  the  filth  which  follows 
him  acts  as  a  shelter  for  the  micro-organisms 
of  disease.  With  proper  pavements,  with  the 
dirt  of  animals  excluded,  street-cleansing  can 
be  properly  performed. 

Within  the  house  the  vacuum-cleansing  pro- 
cesses are  sweeping  out  and  completely  remov- 
ing from  many  a  dwelling  and  public  building 
the  accumulated  dust  of  years.  In  the  vastly 
greater  extension  of  such  devices,  in  such  in- 
crease of  service  as  shall  bring  them  within 
the  constant  use  of  every  household,  lies  the 
great  possibility  here.  City  rooms  will  no 
longer  be  considered  rightly  ventilated  by  the 
dusty  air  of  the  sidewalk  driven  in  by  fans 


AIR  21 

blowing  through  open  windows.  Satisfactory 
air-filters  will  take  their  place,  filters  not  left 
to  the  intermittent,  semi-annual  care  of  a  jani- 
tor. One  watchword  of  the  model  city  of  the 
future  will  be  "  Freedom  from  Dust." 

As  the  centres  of  population  become  more 
and  more  crowded,  as  the  distance  between  the 
workrooms  and  the  bedrooms  of  the  city  grows 
greater,  more  of  our  population  burrow  be- 
neath the  earth  on  their  daily  passing  to  and 
fro.  The  condition  of  the  air  in  the  subways  of 
the  cities  has  been  a  moot  point  since  their  first 
establishment.  Few  subways  have  undergone 
more  criticism  in  this  respect  than  has  the  long 
winding  tunnel  which  lies  beneath  New  York. 
The  trouble  began  with  the  first  opening  of 
the  subway,  while  its  stifling  heat  during  the 
terrific  summer  of  1905  is  a  matter  of  painful 
memory  to  thousands.  That  heat  was  made 
yet  more  intolerable  by  the  peculiar  "  subway 
smell."  From  those  causes  grave  questions  in- 
evitably arose  as  to  the  healthf ulness  of  the 
air  within  the  subway.  Those  queries  have  now 
been  answered  in  large  part  by  an  investiga- 
tion made  by  Dr.  George  Soper,  which  consid- 
ered temperature,  humidity,  odor,  bacteria,  and 
dust.  The  first  two  of  these  divisions,  impor- 


22  THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

tant  as  they  are,  have  comparatively  little 
relation  to  our  theme,  but  the  last  three  are 
pertinent. 

The  belief  in  the  injurious  effects  of  the 
odor  of  the  subway  was  a  relic  from  the  period 
when  certain  forms  of  illness  were  supposed 
to  be  directly  connected  with  evil  smells.  With 
the  exception  of  the  ill  effects  which  certain 
gaseous  compounds  of  sulphur  and  carbon 
produce,  there  seems  to  be  scarcely  any  ground 
for  relating  disease  and  evil  odor.  Constant 
exposure  to  any  smell,  be  it  bad  or  good,  is 
likely  to  produce  nervous  irritation  and  ex- 
haustion. On  the  great  rose-farms  of  southern 
France,  for  example,  the  stranger,  wandering 
among  the  fragrant  fields,  soon  feels  the  same 
heavy  headache  which  a  persistently  objection- 
able odor  like  that  of  a  soap  factory  is  likely 
to  produce.  A  lowering  of  energy  from  any 
type  of  odor  may  put  the  individual  into  a  con- 
dition to  invite  disease,  but  is  little  likely  to 
be  the  direct  cause  of  contagion.  In  the  case 
of  the  subway,  the  odor  came  chiefly  from  the 
smell  of  the  trap-rock  employed  in  the  stone 
ballast  of  the  road-bed,  mingled  with  lubricat- 
ing oil  and  gear  grease,  and  combined  with 
occasional  slight  infusions  of  human  odor.  Dis- 


AIR  23 

agreeable  as  it  might  be  when  long  inhaled, 
there  was  no  reason  to  believe  it  dangerous. 

The  dust  of  the  subway  was  quite  another 
matter.  It  was  very  distinct  from  the  dust  of 
the  streets,  blacker,  more  clinging.  As  a  horse- 
shoe magnet  was  brought  near  a  heap  of  dust, 
the  powdery  mass  sprang  into  magnetic  curves. 
Following  this  line,  two  magnets  of  similar  size 
were  hung,  one  in  the  subway  and  one  in  an 
iron  foundry;  and  the  first  showed  clusters 
of  black  magnetic  stuff  far  heavier  than  the 
second.  Analysis  after  analysis  showed  almost 
half  as  much  dust  again  by  weight  in  the  sub- 
way as  was  found  outside.  Over  sixty  per  cent 
of  that  dust  was  iron.  A  passenger  traveling 
for  half  an  hour  inhaled  on  an  average  some 
.42  of  a  milligram  of  the  dust,  a  very  appre- 
ciable amount,  and  received  into  his  lungs  a 
goodly  number  of  iron  missiles.  Add  to  them 
the  tuberculosis  germs  forever  floating  in  the 
cars,  and  you  have  a  very  dangerous  combi- 
nation. The  iron  came  from  the  wearing  down 
of  the  brake-shoes  on  the  wheels,  and  it  is  com- 
puted that  the  huge  figure  of  twenty-five  tons 
of  iron  and  steel  is  ground  into  powder  in  the 
New  York  subway  in  the  course  of  a  month. 
Here  is  a  type  of  dust  too  little  regarded  up 


24          THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

to  the  present  time,  which  means  much  to  the 
tuberculosis  campaigns  of  the  future. 

The  bacteria  found  in  the  subway  were  com- 
monly less  in  number  than  those  found  outside, 
but  amounted  to  the  fairly  high  figure  of  some 
five  hundred  thousand  per  gram  of  dust,  some- 
times running  as  high  as  two  million.  The  pas- 
senger waiting  for  the  train,  however,  seems 
engaged  in  no  more  harmful  occupation,  so 
far  as  danger  from  the  number  of  bacteria 
present  is  concerned,  than  he  would  be  if  he 
was  waiting  for  a  car  on  the  street  outside. 

In  summing  up  the  situation,  the  engineer 
in  charge  states :  "  My  own  conclusion  was 
that  the  general  air  (of  the  subway),  although 
disagreeable  was  not  actually  harmful,  except, 
possibly,  for  the  presence  of  iron  dust."  Re- 
cent investigations  of  iron  dust,  particularly 
from  the  standpoint  of  those  exposed  to  iron 
and  steel  dust,  makes  one  believe  that  the  word 
"possibly"  in  the  quotation  just  made  might 
well  be  stricken  out. 

One  other  point  concerning  subway  air 
should  be  mentioned.  The  constant  renewing 
of  the  atmosphere  by  the  motion  of  the  trains 
keeps  the  carbon  dioxide  in  the  tunnel  so  little 
more  than  that  on  the  surface  that,  so  far 


AIR  25 

as  that  index  shows,  few  more  harmful  pro- 
perties exist  in  the  subway  than  in  the  streets. 

Closely  allied  with  the  problems  which  the 
air  of  the  city  brings  are  the  difficulties  in- 
volved in  the  city's  light.  Despite  the  many 
theorists  who  have  offered  papers  on  the  in- 
jurious effects  of  sunlight,  we  must  believe 
from  the  long  history  of  the  race  that  we  are 
made  to  be  sun  animals.  The  dwarfed  frame 
of  the  poor  cellar  dweller,  the  stunted  body  of 
the  child  of  the  dark  city  room  may  be  largely 
due  to  malnutrition,  close  air,  and  the  other 
evil  surroundings  of  the  slum.  There  is  small 
reason  to  think  that  lack  of  sunlight  does 
not  play  its  part  in  producing  the  total 
effect. 

Over  and  over  again  in  the  succeeding 
chapters  we  shall  be  brought  to  realize  that 
the  germs  of  disease  flourish  in  dirt  and  in 
darkness.  Were  there  no  other  reason  for 
letting  in  the  light,  the  fact  that  the  impulse 
to  cleanliness  comes  with  illumination  would 
be  enough.  Take  an  apartment  of  five  rooms, 
two  of  which  have  inside  windows  and  three 
of  which  are  the  typical  dark  interior  cells 
of  so  many  tenement  houses.  The  two  light 
rooms  will  regularly  show  a  large  percentage 


26          THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

of  improvement  in  cleanliness  over  the  other 
three. 

In  no  part  of  the  house  are  the  good 
effects  of  light  regulation  more  perceptibly 
necessary  than  in  the  kitchen,  where  the  ma- 
terials which  offer  the  greatest  possibilities  of 
decomposition  and  the  best  lodging-places  for 
micro-organic  life  are  concentrated.  Recent 
investigations  concerning  the  bacteria  present 
in  poorly  washed  dishes  and  in  refuse  spilled 
in  the  kitchen  show  the  possibilities  of  germ- 
life  inherent  in  dark  kitchens.  That  room  is 
the  common  living-room  of  the  whole  family 
in  thousands  of  cases.  The  possibilities  for  the 
spread  of  disease  which  it  offers  are  enormous. 

Of  no  disease  is  the  preceding  statement 
truer  than  of  tuberculosis,  whose  bacillus  dies 
swiftly  in  cleanliness,  light,  and  air.  With  this 
micro-organism,  as  with  the  other  germs  of 
disease,  it  is  the  dark  room  which  furnishes 
the  filth  which  holds  the  germ  as  well  as  the 
darkness  which  favors  its  growth.  It  is  in  the 
dark  rooms  of  the  slums  that  poverty  forces 
the  greatest  amount  of  overcrowding.  The 
air  from  such  abodes  may  well  be  laden  with 
the  seed  of  the  white  plague.  We  know  that 
men  are  affected  by  the  combination  of  good 


AIR  27 

or  bad  air,  space,  food,  and  light.  How  heav- 
ily the  factor  of  light  may  weigh  in  the  total, 
we  can  hardly  tell  definitely  as  yet.  It  seems 
reasonable  to  believe  that  it  bears  no  small 
part  of  the  whole  burden. 

Germany  has  done  far  more  to  insure  satis- 
factory lighting  than  has  been  even  attempted 
in  this  country.  In  Saxony  no  building  may  be 
erected  behind  any  other  building  for  dwell- 
ing purposes  unless  a  supply  of  light  at  an 
angle  of  at  least  45°  is  secured  for  all  the  win- 
dows. At  Ulm  and  Frankfort,  when  the  muni- 
cipality took  up  the  work  of  housing,  a  supply 
of  light  was  made  one  of  the  first  requirements. 
To  insure  the  carrying  out  of  these  needs,  the 
width  of  streets,  areas  of  front  and  rear  gar- 
dens, and  proximity  of  squares  and  boulevards 
were  all  taken  into  consideration.  The  "  Zone  " 
system  of  building,  mentioned  later,  which 
limits  the  number  of  stories  of  houses  in  dif- 
ferent districts  of  the  town,  has  accomplished 
the  same  result  in  Cologne.  There  is  more 
than  one  reason  for  such  enactments. 

One  thing  cannot  be  forgotten.  The  light 
furnished  to  houses  must  come  from  the  sun. 
It  is  never  sufficient  to  offer  artificial  light 
as  illumination  for  any  room  of  any  habita- 


28          THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

tion.  The  shop  or  factory  will  furnish  arti- 
ficial light  where  it  is  needed  far  more  readily 
than  it  can  ever  be  supplied  to  the  rooms  of 
the  great  majority  of  homes.  The  employer 
knows  that  he  must  furnish  light  if  his  work 
is  to  be  done.  The  woman  in  the  home 
knows  that  every  minute  that  her  lights  may 
run  means  money  which  must  come  from  the 
weekly  wage.  She  is  unlikely  to  give  suffi- 
cient light  to  any  room  where  it  is  not  fur- 
nished free  by  windows. 

First  of  all  necessities  in  the  betterment 
of  city  air  comes  cleanliness  outside  and  in. 
Crime,  dirt,  and  disease  are  all  rank  growths 
of  the  dark.  Light  is  a  powerful  factor  of 
reform.  No  municipality  is  doing  its  duty  to 
its  citizens  which  neglects  to  enforce  laws  to 
provide  light  in  every  room  of  the  habitations 
of  men.  How  far  some  of  our  cities  fail  of 
that  condition,  we  shall  see  later. 

For  the  smoke  nuisance,  the  dust  evil,  and 
the  dark  dwelling,  the  city  can  provide  reme- 
dies. Laws  passed,  and  enforced,  requiring 
smoke-consumers  and  proper  firing  will  do 
away  with  the  smoke  nuisance.  Proper  pave- 
ments, with  good  street-cleaning,  will  reduce 
germ-laden  dust  to  a  minimum.  The  city 


AIR  29 

which  desires  to  give  light  to  its  inhabitants, 
has  only  to  refuse  to  allow  the  occupancy  of 
any  new  house  whose  rooms  do  not  possess 
sufficient  window  space  through  which  sun- 
light can  pass  at  a  proper  angle. 

It  is  all  in  the  city's  hands.  Community 
life  is  apparently  the  inevitable  sequence  of 
our  modern  age.  The  fortunate  who  can,  the 
intelligent  who  know,  will  turn  more  and  more 
for  their  hours  of  recreation  and  of  sleep  to 
wide  stretches  of  heath  and  hill,  or  to  the 
comparative  cleanliness  of  the  suburbs.  But 
for  the  thousands  of  the  narrow  streets,  the 
cleansing  of  the  city  air  is  a  necessity.  To 
every  pallid  weary  worker  should  come  the 
rushing  breath  of  purifying  winds,  the  free 
and  open  air  of  heaven. 


n 

THE  MILK-SUPPLY 

IF  the  death  angel,  Azrael  of  the  flaming 
sword,  stood  before  the  gates  of  the  city  cry- 
ing, "  Open  ye !  For  every  street  within  your 
portals  must  yield  to  me  one  babe  in  ten," 
what  wailing  and  what  lamentation  would 
run  quicker  than  thought  through  palace 
and  through  hovel !  But  decimation  does  not 
suffice  the  death  angel  to-day.  Two  babes  of 
every  ten  die  in  our  great  cities,  and  the  world, 
filled  with  the  rush  of  our  modern  age,  scarce 
gives  a  thought  to  this  fearful  winnowing. 

Nor  is  such  a  statement  in  any  way  an  ex- 
aggeration. There  can  be  little  doubt  that  of 
one  thousand  children  born,  the  fifth  year  will 
find  more  than  one  fifth  blotted  out.  And 
the  majority  of  these  have  come  from  the  nar- 
row ways  of  the  city.  From  under  two  hun- 
dred in  those  cities  which  do  most,  to  over 
three  hundred  in  those  which  do  least,  rises 
the  five-year  death  roll.  Many  an  empire- 
making  struggle  has  passed  with  far  less  loss. 


THE  MILK-SUPPLY  31 

Read  on  the  tattered  banners  of  historic  Brit- 
ish regiments  the  golden  scroll  of  battles,  from 
Malplaquet  to  Pretoria.  How  few  of  them 
show  any  such  list  of  slain  as  do  these  records 
of  the  tiny  victims  of  disease  in  peace. 

Study  the  rows  of  figures  further,  and  cer- 
tain definite  facts  stand  forth  in  the  light. 
June,  July,  and  August  are  the  months  of 
greatest  infant  mortality^Diseases  of  the  di- 
gestive system  cause  forty  per  cent  of  the 
deaths  in  many  cities.  Not  only  that,  but  deaths 
from  other  causes  are  rated  as  complicated  by 
diseases  of  this  class.  No  small  number  of  these 
might  well  be  added  to  the  direct  column 
wherein  occur  the  greatest  percentage  of  mor- 
tality. That  points  to  one  thing  as  a  source 
of  danger  —  the  food-supply.  Cow's  milk  is 
the  exclusive  food  of  a  great  majority  of  our 
children  up  to  the  time  they  are  one  year  old. 
It  is  the  chief  food  of  practically  all  children 
from  the  age  of  one  through  the  age  of  five. 
The  inference  is  obvious. 

Strange  to  say,  the  narrow  street  of  the 
Azores,  or  the  mountain  village  of  northern 
Italy,  feeds  its  children  better  than  we  can 
feed  our  own.  Smelling  to  heaven  though  these 
little  towns  may  be,  with  gutters  running  with 


32  THE  HEALTH   OF  THE  CITY 

sewage,  with  .walls  and  barns  falling  in  dirty 
picturesque  decay,  their  common  milk-supply 
is  superior  to  that  furnished  even  to  the  bet- 
ter class  of  our  American  cities.  Twice  a  day, 
morning  and  evening,  the  herdsman  leads  his 
goats  through  pathway,  street,  and  rocky  alley. 
Patiently  the  herd  stands  for  its  milking  be- 
side the  clustering  children,  and  the  warm 
milk,  fresh  from  the  animal,  goes  directly  to 
the  child.  The  rising  generation  there  gets 
pure,  whole  milk  from  a  clean,  healthy  ani- 
mal. Such  milk  is  practically  sterile,  and  if  it 
be  transferred  to  the  consumer  in  that  state, 
it  is  safe.  But  the  danger  from  milk  increases 
with  every  hour  after  it  leaves  the  creature 
which  produces  it,  unless  precautions  are  taken 
to  turn  it  over  to  the  consumer  in  the  same 
state  in  which  it  comes  from  the  healthy  ani- 
mal. Therefore,  since  we  can  solve  the  prob- 
lem in  no  such  fashion  as  can  the  herdsman 
of  the  foreign  streets,  we  must  first  understand 
the  peculiar  dangers  which  surround  our  city 
milk-supply  and  then  find  the  means  of  over- 
coming them. 

Our  common  necessities  of  life,  such  as  air, 
water,  and  milk,  are  taken  so  much  for  granted, 
that  many  of  their  ordinary  properties  escape 


THE  MILK-SUPPLY  33 

our  observation.  The  widespread  course  of 
milk,  coming  as  it  does  to  every  family  table, 
makes  it  a  means  for  spreading  disease,  once 
pathogenic  conditions  have  been  introduced, 
second  to  no  other  medium,  barring  water.  In 
one  respect  it  is  more  dangerous  than  water, 
since  a  plague  of  typhoid  or  Asiatic  cholera 
startles  the  community  from  its  customary 
phlegm  and  causes  immediate  regulation  of 
the  single  source  of  supply.  But  the  death  of 
children  from  stomach  trouble  or  analogous  dis- 
ease makes  no  deep  impression  upon  the  people 
as  a  whole,  and  a  hundred  separate  milkmen 
in  a  city  are  infinitely  harder  to  regulate  than 
is  a  common  service  of  water.  Other  factors 
for  comparison  may  be  found  in  the  inherent 
properties  of  the  two  liquids.  The  transpar- 
ency of  water  causes  its  instant  rejection  when 
it  bears  visible  sediment.  The  whiteness  and 
opaqueness  of  milk  serve  as  covering  and  shel- 
ter for  insoluble  substances.  Dirt  and  filth,  the 
carriers  of  disease,  are  easily  hidden  therein. 
A  report  from  Germany,  the  home  of  syste- 
matic inspection,  well  shows  the  possibilities 
inherent  here.  Berlin,  with  its  great  system  of 
vital  statistics,  reports  that  its  inhabitants  con- 
sume daily  three  hundred  pounds  of  barnyard 


34  THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

refuse  in  their  milk-supply.  If  that  is  true  of 
Berlin,  a  city  of  extraordinary  cleanliness,  what 
must  happen  in  our  cities  here? 

Still  more  important  than  the  mere  carriage 
of  dirt  or  filth  stands  the  power  of  milk  to 
give  lodgment  and  nutrition  to  the  bacterial 
hosts.  These  bodies  are  about  us  everywhere, 
lurking  in  the  dust  on  the  window-sill,  float- 
ing in  the  sunshine,  lying  on  the  ground ;  they 
exist  in  such  countless  hordes  that  words  like 
billion  or  quintillion  utterly  fail  of  significance 
when  the  number  in  an  area  of  any  size  is  to 
be  considered.  These  invisible  myriads  of  the 
air,  moreover,  increase  with  tremendous  rapid- 
ity once  they  encounter  favorable  conditions 
for  growth,  such  as  moisture,  warmth,  and 
food.  All  these  are  furnished  by  milk.  Raise 
barnyard  dust  near  an  open  milk-pail,  and  the 
whirling  masses  which  have  been  lying  in  the 
refuse  of  the  barnyard  floor  pour  down  upon 
the  liquid  as  the  destroying  Huns  of  Attila 
poured  down  upon  Europe. 

But  it  must  not  be  thought  that  all  of  the 
bacteria  are  evil.  Suppose  we  try  to  separate 
the  sheep  from  the  goats.  Roughly  speaking, 
we  may  say  that  three  great  classes  of  bacteria 
may  be  present  in  milk,  the  acid-producing 


THE  MILK-SUPPLY  35 

bacteria,  the  putrefactive  bacteria,  and  the  dis- 
ease-germs proper.  The  souring  of  milk  is  an 
every-day  phenomenon,  and  every  housewife 
knows  that  high  temperature  sours  milk  and 
low  temperature  keeps  it  sweet.  Translated 
into  scientific  terms,  the  souring  of  milk  means 
that  lactic  acid  bacteria,  the  bacteria  of  the 
first  class,  have  been  busily  working  on  some 
of  the  constituents,  and  have  changed  a  part 
of  them  over  into  lactic  acid,  which  in  turn 
has  acidified  the  milk.  This  type  of  bacillus 
is  commonly  harmless,  indeed  it  may  have  an 
absolutely  beneficial  effect ;  but  the  souring  of 
the  milk  has  been  well  called  a  placing  of  red 
lanterns  to  warn  of  danger,  since  the  growth 
of  these  acidifying  germs  under  ordinary  con- 
ditions shows  the  growth  of  other  types,  which 
are  productive  of  disease. 

The  putrefactive  bacteria  do  not  as  a  class 
belong  in  milk,  but  to  be  present  must  be 
introduced  there  from  filth  or  outside  refuse. 
This  is  the  class  of  bacteria  most  dangerous 
to  the  child,  since  certain  members  of  the 
group  are  the  immediate  cause  of  many  of  the 
serious  digestive  troubles  of  children.  Danger- 
ous, indeed,  such  troubles  often  are  to  adults, 
but  far  more  dangerous  when  they  assail  the 


36          THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

delicate  system  of  the  child.  Once  entered 
into  the  intestines,  they  produce  putrefaction 
there,  with  grave  accompanying  disturbances. 
Cholera  infantum,  for  example,  long  recog- 
nized as  an  acute  milk-poisoning,  comes  from 
these  dangerous  visitors,  and  its  symptoms  re- 
semble those  of  poisoning  by  white  arsenic,  a 
violent  gastro-intestinal  irritant. 

Putrefactive  bacteria,  moreover,  breaking 
up  the  constituents  of  the  milk,  may  produce 
dangerous  end-products.  These  classes  of  bac- 
teria by  their  growth  change  the  composition 
of  the  milk,  so  that  an  infected  or  dirty  milk, 
twenty-four  hours  old,  may  actually  bring  a 
poison  to  the  child.  And  these  infinitesimal 
bodies  increase  like  wildfire.  If  two  samples 
be  taken,  one  from  the  milk  of  the  night  be- 
fore, and  the  other  from  that  of  the  morning 
of  an  examination,  over  one  hundred  thousand 
more  bacteria  per  cubic  centimetre  will  com- 
monly be  found  to  have  sprung  up  over  night 
in  the  uncooled  evening's  milk,  than  are  found 
in  the  fresh  supply. 

The  third  class,  the  pathogenic  or  disease- 
germs  proper,  come  in  a  way  which  is  entirely 
preventable.  They  are  the  germs  of  contagious 
disease,  the  bacilli  which  cause  typhoid,  diph- 


THE  MILK-SUPPLY  37 

theria,  and  cholera,  and  they  get  into  milk 
through  milkers  or  handlers  who  are  suffering 
from  mild  forms  of  disease,  from  persons  who 
have  been  in  contact  with  sufferers  from  such 
troubles,  or  else  from  deliberate  or  careless 
adulteration  with  a  disease-infected  water- 
supply. 

Responsible  as  man  may  be  for  carelessness 
which  allows  the  growth  of  dangerous  bacteria, 
he  is  even  more  directly  responsible  when  he 
deliberately  adds  water  for  purposes  of  gain,  or 
skims  off  cream  from  milk  which  is  to  be  sold 
as  whole  milk.  In  either  case  the  percentage  of 
fat  is  cut  down,  and  a  constituent  is  removed 
which  is  needed,  not  only  for  purposes  of  nu- 
trition, but  also  for  the  energy  which  keeps  our 
body-engine  running.  Thence  comes  a  direct 
weakening  of  the  resistant  power  and  of  the 
capacity  of  assimilation.  The  milk  business, 
with  its  billions  of  gallons  of  milk,  hundreds 
of  millions  of  pounds  of  butter,  and  millions 
of  pounds  of  cheese,  is  one  of  the  great  indus- 
tries of  the  United  States.  With  any  such  vol- 
ume of  business  comes  the  tendency  toward 
unrighteous  gain.  How  great  this  evil  is  has 
been  shown  in  St.  Louis,  where  it  was  esti- 
mated in  one  year  that  over  sixteen  hundred 


o  r  1  f\ 
O  u  3 


38          THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

gallons  of  cream  were  removed  each  day,  —  a 
loss  of  $900,000  a  year  to  consumers,  and 
one  which  bears  most  heavily  upon  the  scanty 
purses  of  the  poor.  In  New  York  the  frauds 
committed  by  the  milkmen  were  said  some 
time  ago  to  amount  to  about  $10,000  per  day, 
a  gain  to  a  few  individuals,  which  bears  in  its 
train  two  dangers,  the  transmission  of  disease 
and  the  lessening  of  bodily  resistance  because 
of  diminished  food-value. 

There  are,  then,  two  factors  to  be  con- 
sidered in  the  control  of  milk.  First,  bacte- 
rial cleanliness,  and  second,  the  necessity  for 
whole  unadulterated  milk.  To  fully  recognize 
the  necessity  for  proper  bacterial  conditions, 
we  must  trace  the  milk  back  to  its  source, 
consider  the  dairy  farm,  and  what  such  a  farm 
should  be. 

Dr.  James  K.  Wardwell  divides  dairy  farms 
as  follows :  — 

"First,  what  might  be  called  'model  farms ' 
—  places  conducted  as  nearly  as  possible  in  an 
ideal  manner  and  buying  no  milk  from  others. 
Second,  good  clean  places  —  some  old,  some 
new  —  managed  by  careful  men  who  are  trying 
to  do  the  best  they  can  with  what  they  have. 
Some  of  them  buy  from  one  or  two  neighbors 


THE  MILK-SUPPLY  39 

•who  are  also  careful  and  are  watched  pretty 
closely  by  the  man  to  whom  they  sell.  Third, 
all  the  rest." 

No  matter  how  thoroughly  imbued  city  men 
may  be  with  city  life  and  city  ways,  nothing 
touches  most  of  them  more  closely  than  does  the 
thought  of  country  life.  Typical  of  all  whole- 
some outdoor  joys  is  the  mind-picture  of  the 
old-fashioned  barn.  The  wide  doors  swinging 
open  to  vistas  of  clover-scented  meadow,  the 
lofts  laden  with  generous  overhanging  masses 
of  hay,  above  which  wheel  the  darting  swal- 
lows, the  cows  and  horses  in  their  darkened 
stalls,  and  the  broad  bands  of  sunshine  pierc- 
ing the  dusty  windows,  to  broaden  out  into  a 
full  golden  river  before  the  open  door,  all  give 
a  setting  for  the  imagination  which  completely 
fills  the  rural  foreground  of  the  average  urban 
dweller.  While  that  remains  the  conception  of 
a  dairy  farm,  the  actual  conditions  are  likely 
to  be  hidden  completely  from  view.  It  is  true 
that  the  old  unswept  barn  where  dust  and 
refuse  filled  the  air  had  evident  difficulties, 
but  it  is  also  true  that  it  had  certain  redeem- 
ing features.  Our  forefathers  had  a  liking  for 
"  sightly  spots,"  as  they  expressed  it,  and  no 
one  traversing  the  east  to-day  can  fail  to  note 


40  THE   HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

how  often  a  great  red  or  white  barn  crowns 
some  noble  eminence.  Those  heights  meant 
good  drainage,  good  air,  and  free  ventilation. 
The  milk  produced  there,  once  it  left  the 
barn,  was  the  especial  province  of  the  good 
housewife,  and  the  spotless  purity  of  her  cool 
milk-room  with  its  border  of  shining  milkpans 
was  her  pride  and  joy.  Not  only  that,  but 
the  short  time  which  intervened  before  the 
warm  milk  reached  its  users  left  comparatively 
little  chance  for  injury.  Then,  indeed,  the 
foaming  draught  from  the  healthy  pasture-fed 
cows  might  well  bear  health  and  strength. 

No  such  conditions  exist  to-day  in  the  ma- 
jority of  dairy  farms.  The  milk-supply  of  the 
city,  if  it  comes  from  afar,  must  pass  through 
hours  of  waiting  by  cross-road,  by  station,  and 
in  train,  ere  it  reaches  the  urban  terminal ; 
and  when  it  reaches  the  door  it  is  likely  to 
be  anywhere  from  sixteen  to  forty  hours  old. 
Only  when  the  greatest  care  has  been  taken 
in  starting  the  milk  clean,  and  keeping  it 
throughout  at  a  low  temperature,  can  it  arrive 
without  accompanying  millions  of  bacteria.  If 
the  milk  comes  from  near  at  hand,  the  increas- 
ing value  of  real  estate  about  a  city  only  too 
often  places  the  dairy  farm  in  some  damp, 


THE  MILK-SUPPLY  41 

undrained  spot.  In  either  case  the  doctrines 
of  fresh  air,  cleanliness,  and  sunshine  spread 
slowly  through  the  consciousness  of  the  hired 
milker,  an  employee  not  uncommonly  taken 
from  some  batch  of  immigrants  just  entering 
upon  their  first  occupation  in  a  new  land.  So 
seldom  is  any  cleansing  attempted  in  some  of 
these  barns  that  every  movement  of  the  milk- 
ers plants  the  seeds  of  numerous  colonies  of 
bacteria.  An  almost  historic  experiment  of 
Freeman's  shows  this  clearly.  Three  culture- 
plates,  shallow  dishes  containing  jelly-like 
masses  ready  to  give  lodging  and  food  to 
errant  bacteria,  were  set  for  three  minutes  in 
separate  places,  one  in  the  free  open  air, 
one  just  outside  a  barn,  and  the  third  in- 
side, in  front  of  a  cow  and  beside  a  milk-pail 
when  milking  was  going  on.  These  jellies 
were  afterward  developed,  that  is,  were  put 
under  conditions  favorable  to  bacterial  growth, 
and  the  first  plate  showed  six,  the  second,  one 
hundred  and  eleven,  and  the  third,  eighteen 
hundred,  colonies  of  bacteria.  No  result  could 
more  strikingly  illustrate  the  possibilities  of 
the  dirty  barn.  Not  only  the  floor  but  the 
cow  herself  is  an  immediate  provider  of  such 
bodies,  for  the  sides  and  udders  of  the  animal, 


42          THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

lying  in  the  filth  of  the  stall,  carry  many  pu- 
trefactive germs.  Then,  too,  those  common 
carriers  of  disease,  the  swarming  flies,  may 
easily  carry  infection  from  a  considerable  dis- 
tance. 

The  food  of  the  herd  must  be  good  and 
ample  if  the  milk  produced  is  to  be  up  to  the 
standard.  Where  tower  the  walls  of  brewery  or 
distillery  the  daily  wayfarer  may  note  streams 
of  farm  wagons  which  enter  the  big  gates 
empty  and  come  out  full  of  dark  spent  grains. 
The  farmer  who  buys  those  cheap  grains  is 
injuring  the  composition  of  his  milk,  and  his 
wagon  is  bearing  an  improper  food  to  the 
farm.  That  is  only  one  of  the  dangers  which 
come  to  the  herd  when  greed  of  gain  or 
ignorance  holds  sway  instead  of  a  wise  pro- 
gression. The  milk  of  cows  suffering  from 
tuberculosis  and  other  complaints  is  another 
example.  Concerning  this,  one  thing  we  may 
say.  Bovine  tuberculosis  is  probably  trans- 
missible to  man.  In  any  case,  the  secondary 
products  of  toxine  reactions  in  tuberculous 
cows,  or  the  impure  milk  which  comes  from 
any  diseased  cow,  may  fill  the  milk  with  inju- 
rious ingredients.  But  all  these  things  are  less 
likely  to  occur  than  is  the  ever-present  trouble 


THE  MILK-SUPPLY  43 

of  unclean  milkers,  unwashed  dishes,  and 
unswept  floors.  In  cleanliness,  in  spotlessness, 
lies  the  great  solution.  One  more  point  should 
be  mentioned.  Look  out  for  sounds  in  the 
early  morning  hours  which  mean  that  milk  is 
being  bottled  on  the  street  in  the  wagon,  in- 
stead of  at  the  farm  in  the  milk-house.  The 
milk-house  may  well  be  in  a  far  from  perfect 
condition,  but  milk  bottled  there  is  far  less 
liable  to  serious  contamination  than  when  it 
is  taken  from  the  farm  in  cans  and  bottled  at 
the  consumer's  door.  On  the  street  the  possi- 
bility of  contamination  from  dust,  flies,  and 
dirty  bottles  rises  to  a  practical  certainty. 

The  number  of  proper  dairy  farms  is  grow- 
ing year  by  year.  Those  breeze-swept  sunny 
heights  which  called  instinctively  to  the  farmer 
of  an  older  day,  call  because  of  their  good 
drainage  and  ventilation  to  the  modern  farmer. 
His  long,  low  barn,  clean-swept,  with  floors 
where  every  form  of  filth  may  be  easily  and 
swiftly  removed,  his  open  stalls  and  stanchions, 
his  separate  hay-barn,  all  show  thought,  care, 
and  cleanliness.  On  such  a  farm  the  milk- 
house  is  properly  separate  from  the  barn  and 
deserves  a  word  for  itself.  There  come  the 
clean-handed,  white-clad  milkers,  with  their 


44          THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

covered  pails  whose  contents  have  been  drawn 
from  clean  cows.  No  milker  enters  the  milk- 
house,  but  each  pours  his  milk  from  an  outside 
passage  directly  into  the  aerator  or  cooler. 
This  piece  of  apparatus  takes  the  warm  milk 
fresh  from  the  cow,  and  cools  it  immediately 
to  400  or  50°  F.,  passing  it  from  a  tank  over 
a  large  expanse  of  cylindrical  pipe,  whose  in- 
terior is  cooled  by  coils  through  which  flows 
running  water.  From  the  cooler,  the  milk  is 
run  direct  into  sterile  bottles.  These  are  capped 
and  placed  on  ice,  where  they  remain,  both  on 
the  farm  and  in  the  wagon,  until  the  consumer 
is  reached.  Such  a  farm  has,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  a  pure  and  sufficient  water-supply  and 
clean  and  jointless  milk-utensils. 

With  all  the  difficulties  which  bar  the  way, 
it  must  seem  an  Augean  task  to  cleanse  the 
city  milk,  to  force  the  farmer  to  have  proper 
conditions  in  his  barn.  Yet  after  all  it  is  not 
so  hard  when  one  knows  that  there  are  definite 
ways  to  go  about  a  cure,  that  dairy  farms  exist 
where  pure  milk  is  being  produced,  and  that 
in  some  cities  the  milk-supply  is  excellent. 
Since  it  has  been  proved  that  a  satisfactory 
milk-supply  can  be  secured,  the  natural  se- 
quence is  the  arousing  of  the  community  to 


THE  MILK-SUPPLY  45 

such  a  point  that  it  will  require  every  farmer  who 
supplies  it  to  have  a  proper  farm,  every  dealer 
to  keep  and  deliver  his  milk  whole  and  clean. 

The  necessity  for  those  standards  which 
oblige  the  milk  to  have  a  certain  content  of 
fat  and  solids,  that  is,  to  contain  the  amount 
of  nutriment  which  should  exist  in  milk  from 
a  healthy  cow,  is  fairly  recognized.  The  diffi- 
culty in  this  respect  has  come  less  from  a  lack 
of  city  ordinances  than  from  the  appointment 
of  incompetent  or  untrustworthy  officials ;  or 
else  from  insufficient  appropriations,  which  too 
often  keep  good  milk-officials  from  covering 
any  reasonable  portion  of  the  supply,  to  say 
nothing  of  taking  care  of  the  whole.  The 
automatic  law,  which  will  work  without  ample 
appropriations,  though  long  sought,  is  yet  to 
be  found. 

The  newer  standard,  which  requires  that 
milk  shall  be  free  from  injurious  bacteria  and 
germs,  or  that  a  fixed  quantity  of  milk  shall 
not  contain  more  than  a  certain  limited  num- 
ber of  bacteria,  is  the  one  which  chiefly  needs 
our  attention.  For  this  standard  a  tiny  mass 
of  liquid,  the  cubic  centimetre,  about  the  thir- 
tieth part  of  a  liquid  ounce,  is  taken.  A  small 
portion  only  can  be  used  effectively,  since  even 


46  THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

here  the  number  of  bacteria  present  may  range 
from  a  meagre  hundred  to  a  host  of  ten  million. 
But  counting  the  bacterial  inhabitants  in  a 
cubic  centimetre  is  quite  as  effective  a  way  of 
telling  the  condition  of  the  milk  as  counting 
the  bacteria  in  a  quart  would  be.  It  is  known 
that  the  greater  the  number  of  bacteria  pre- 
sent, the  greater  the  chance  for  evil  growths. 
We  may,  therefore,  obtain  a  standard  from 
the  total  number  present,  and  decide  that  for 
practical  purposes  the  purest  milk  is  that  milk 
which  contains  the  smallest  number  of  bacte- 
rial forms. 

So  the  bacteriologist,  bending  over  his  mi- 
croscope and  culture-tube  in  the  quiet  labora- 
tory, stands  between  death  and  the  children. 
No  unworthy  follower  of  St.  George,  the 
dragon-fighter  of  old,  is  this  follower  of  sci- 
ence, fighting  the  modern  dragons  of  disease 
and  death.  To  him  may  safely  be  left  the 
task  of  guarding  the  city,  provided  we  have  a 
law  which  will  require  a  proper  limit  to  the 
number  of  bacteria  present,  and  inspectors  to 
enforce  the  law.  In  his  laboratory  the  samples 
received  from  the  wagons  and  the  farm  are 
each  carefully  labeled,  properly  diluted,  and 
poured  on  plates  which  hold  sterile  solutions 


THE  MILK-SUPPLY  47 

calculated  to  give  the  best  results  in  the  way 
of  bacterial  growth  when  placed  in  warm,  moist 
air.  After  a  few  hours  under  these  conditions 
the  plates  begin  to  show  small  spots,  which 
steadily  grow  larger  and  larger.  These  are  the 
colonies  from  the  individual  micro-organisms, 
whose  progeny  have  increased  at  the  rate  of 
hundreds,  almost  of  thousands,  an  hour.  Each 
colony  means  a  single  living  organism  at  the 
start,  and  from  the  total  of  colonies  the  num- 
ber of  individuals  present  may  be  determined. 
Their  kind  also  may  be  ascertained,  be  it 
harmless  lactic-acid  form,  dangerous  putre- 
factive type,  or  in  many  cases  disease-germ 
direct.  Such  bacteriological  care  insures  the 
safest  and  healthiest  supply  that  a  community 
_can  possibly  obtain. 

The  safeguarding  of  the  city's  milk  by  ster- 
ilization and  pasteurization  has  been  so  often 
considered  that  some  reference  to  their  action 
is  essential.  While  heat  up  to  100°  F.  tends 
to  increase  bacteria  rapidly,  yet  high  tempera- 
ture kills  them,  and  the  problem  of  the  effect 
of  temperature  upon  milk  is  no  simple  one. 
Whenever  the  housewife  scalds  her  milk  to 
keep  it  from  souring,  she  employs  sterilization. 
Her  real  object  in  the  process  is  to  kill  the 


48  THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

lactic-acid  bacteria  and  prevent  them  from 
doing  their  work.  In  fact,  practically  all  the 
living  organisms  of  milk  are  destroyed  by  keep- 
ing it  at  212°,  the  boiling  temperature,  for  ten 
minutes.  But  with  this  destruction  come  a 
series  of  changes  which  affect  seriously  the 
composition  of  the  liquid.  The  gases,  aromat- 
ics,  and  several  of  the  watery  constituents  are 
lost,  while  some  of  the  other  constituents  are 
modified.  In  consequence,  the  digestibility  of 
the  milk  is  affected,  and  serious  intestinal  ill- 
ness has  been  attributed  to  a  constant  use  of 
such  milk  by  infants.  The  process  is  a  some- 
what difficult  one  to  perform  properly  ;  more- 
over, the  appearance  and  taste,  as  well  as  the 
composition,  of  the  sterilized  milk  are  injured. 
In  consequence,  comparatively  little  of  it  is 
used  in  American  cities,  though  it  is  com- 
monly found  in  continental  Europe. 

Pasteurization  is  the  simple  process  of  sub- 
jecting milk  for  twenty  minutes  to  a  tempera- 
ture of  not  under  155°,  not  over  159°.  This 
method,  while  it  does  not  kill  all  bacteria,  de- 
stroys the.more  dangerous  of  them,  kills  many 
putrefactive  and  disease-germs,  and  commonly 
reduces  the  number  per  cubic  centimetre  from 
thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  bacteria 


THE  MILK-SUPPLY  49 

to  less  than  a  hundred.  Here  is  a  possible 
safeguard  for  the  individual  family  unable  to 
obtain  sanitary  milk.  The  composition  and  ap- 
pearance of  the  milk  are  less  changed  than  by 
sterilization,  yet  decided  results  are  obtained. 
The  destruction  of  the  souring  bacteria  is  in 
itself  no  minor  matter,  since  milk  which  either 
has  turned,  or  is  on  the  point  of  turning,  may 
be  given  accidentally  to  infants,  with  serious 
digestive  troubles  as  a  result.  But  far  more  im- 
portant than  this  is  the  fact  that  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  germs  of  tuberculosis,  typhoid,  and 
diphtheria  is  practically  certain.  Pasteurization 
is  inexpensive,  simple,  and  easy  to  perform, 
does  not  require  complex  apparatus,  but  does 
demand  care.  Yet  any  process  which  heats 
milk  above  blood  heat  can  never  be  wholly 
satisfactory,  and  pasteurization  is  by  no  means 
perfect.  Nevertheless,  it  surely  seems  wiser  for 
the  individual  consumer  to  have  recourse  to  it 
than  to  chance  the  use  of  milk  from  a  ques- 
tionable supply. 

Commercial  pasteurization,  however,  is  a 
very  different  matter  from  individual  pasteuri- 
zation. On  this  subject  we  can  hardly  do  better 
than  to  quote  from  Professor  James  0.  Jordan 
of  the  Boston  Board  of  Health,  as  follows:  — 


50  THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

"  Commercial  pasteurization  serves  a  pur- 
pose, but  it  is  not  true  pasteurization.  Un- 
doubtedly nearly  all  of  the  souring  bacteria 
are  destroyed  under  this  treatment,  but  the 
more  deleterious  bacteria  are  not  killed,  and 
these  may  produce  harmful  changes  in  the 
milk  while  it  still  appears  sweet  and  palatable. 
Oftentimes  this  pasteurization  means  that 
filthy  milk  which  would,  under  ordinary  con- 
ditions, be  unsalable,  because  of  souring,  is 
given  a  new  lease  of  life  and  becomes  a 
marketable  commodity." 

Higher  and  higher  loom  the  huge  caravan- 
saries where  flock  the  city-dwellers.  Greater 
and  greater  wax  the  numbers  of  hospitals 
and  institutions.  With  the  increase  of  centres 
where  hundreds  and  thousands  may  be  fed 
from  a  single  source  of  supply,  has  come  a 
different  problem  from  that  which  meets  the 
individual  consumer.  At  least  one  record  ex- 
ists which  tells  how  milk  received  pure  may 
be  kept  pure,  even  when  distributed  in  many 
different  directions. 

Down  beyond  the  North  End  of  Boston, 
where  the  harbor  air  first  begins  to  hold  its 
own  against  the  city  smells,  lies  the  Floating 
Hospital,  a  noble  philanthropy  nobly  carried 


THE  MILK-SUPPLY  51 

on.  Some  time  ago,  when  a  new  hospital  ship 
was  equipped  for  its  use,  it  was  determined 
that  pasteurization  and  sterilization  should 
not  be  employed.  That  meant  that  bacterial 
growths  must  be  practically  excluded  from  the 
supply,  for  the  cases  which  enter  the  hospital 
are  largely  those  of  children  suffering  from 
digestive  disease.  No  satisfactory  apparatus 
by  which  institutions  could  keep  milk  down 
to  a  minimum  of  bacteria  had  been  evolved, 
and  the  search  to  find  a  way  to  accomplish 
this  fell  upon  the  director  of  the  food-labora- 
tory of  the  hospital,  Mr.  Frederic  W.  Howe. 
He  took  up  the  task,  and  designed  a  labora- 
tory which  sends  out  milk  day  by  day  with  a 
smaller  bacterial  content  than  has  been  re- 
corded from  many  institutions.  The  Boston 
Board  of  Health  requires  a  standard  of  not 
more  than  five  hundred  thousand  bacteria  per 
cubic  centimetre.  The  food-laboratory  of  the 
Floating  Hospital  sends  out  milk  to  all  its 
wards  with  a  bacterial  content  of  from  one  to 
two  hundred.  How  is  this  possible  of  accom- 
plishment? It  is  done  by  means  of  a  series 
of  devices  that  insure  absolute  cleanliness  in 
every  process.  That  means  a  chance  for  the 
children,  a  decrease  in  infant  mortality,  which 


52  THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

is  one  of  the  noteworthy  accomplishments  of 
the  day. 

The  cramped  space  of  a  ship  leaves  little 
room  for  useless  experimentation,  so  the  sunny 
laboratory  is  a  multum  in  parvo  of  four  small 
rooms,  cut  off  from  the  rest  of  the  hospital, 
and  having  communication  by  door  only  with 
the  deck,  by  windows  only  with  the  corridors. 
The  first  room  is  the  cleansing-room,  where 
the  nursing-bottles  back  from  the  wards  are 
washed  by  motor-driven  brushes  in  tanks  filled 
with  hot  cleansing  solutions.  From  there  the 
bottles  are  taken  to  the  great  sterilizer,  —  a 
rack-lined,  copper-floored  room,  where  hun- 
dreds of  bottles  may  be  placed.  The  doors  of 
the  sterilizer  are  hermetically  closed,  and  live 
steam,  perhaps  the  greatest  cleansing  agent 
known,  is  turned  on  to  fill  every  cranny  of 
the  room  and  of  its  contents.  Then  comes  the 
modifier  room,  where  the  whole  milk  is  modi- 
fied to  meet  the  needs  of  each  individual 
patient.  This  room  beyond  the  sterilizer  is 
the  essential  part  of  the  whole  process.  Any 
institutional  apparatus  must  be  of  a  sort  to 
require  a  minimum  of  time  and  care. with  a 
maximum  of  efficiency.  That  is  what  is  ac- 
complished here.  The  modifier,  a  great  square 


THE  MILK-SUPPLY  53 

tank  filled  with  cooling  brine,  holds  a  series 
of  cylindrical  tanks,  which  supply  the  various 
liquids  required  for  the  milk-mixtures  used 
in  the  laboratory.  The  turning  of  a  tap 
gives  the  milk.  By  a  single  connection  of  the 
hose  each  can  is  connected  with  a  live-steam 
pipe  which  cleanses  and  sterilizes  it  perfectly. 
Every  can,  once  filled,  is  sealed  save  for  its 
single  delivery  tube,  and  the  bacteria,  instead 
of  being  killed,  are  excluded.  Last  of  all  in 
the  series,  but  first  in  actual  use,  comes  the 
huge  refrigerator,  where  the  clean  milk  from 
a  model  dairy  farm  is  delivered  at  one  side 
and  taken  into  the  modifier  room  on  the  other. 
Day  after  day  and  meal  after  meal  pure  milk- 
mixtures  are  furnished  to  the  children,  and 
the  percentage  of  cases  gained,  and  the  num- 
ber of  children  who  pull  through  despite  the 
handicap  of  the  slum,  is  the  best  certificate 
of  success.  There  is  no  institution  or  hospital 
but  can  profit  by  such  experimental  success  as 
this. 

One  more  record  of  modern  research  before 
we  close ;  and  this  is  another  chapter  of  that 
great  theory  which  shows  the  possibility  of 
destroying  germs  of  evil  within  the  body  by 
means  of  their  enemies,  the  germs  of  good. 


54  THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

It  has  long  been  known  that  certain  health- 
giving  properties  belong  to  buttermilk,  but 
the  scientific  value  of  this  fact  has  only  re- 
cently been  recognized.  It  was  found  that  in 
certain  cases  this  liquid  was  extremely  suc- 
cessful in  curing  digestive  difficulties.  That 
gave  a  clue  to  start  the  development  of  the 
theory.  If  buttermilk,  stripped  of  much  of  its 
value  in  the  butter-making,  and  dirty  from 
the  process,  would  do  this,  could  not  clean 
milk  be  so  treated  as  to  make  it  of  greater 
value  ?  Experiment  after  experiment  along 
this  line  has  been  tried.  In  the  most  success- 
ful of  these  a  pure  culture  of  lactic-acid  bac- 
teria is  added  to  clean  milk  to  acidify  it. 
Sufficient  of  these  bacteria  are  introduced  to 
produce  a  maximum  of  seven  tenths  of  one 
per  cent  of  lactic  acid,  a  quantity  which  cur- 
dles the  milk  but  gives  in  the  soluble  part  a 
goodly  growth  of  bacteria.  These  tiny  war- 
riors are  the  deadly  enemies  of  putrefaction ; 
once  within  the  body,  they  struggle  with  the 
bacteria  of  evil  which  have  taken  lodgment 
there,  fighting  on  until  they  destroy  them. 
Though  a  different  type  of  action  from  the 
antitoxine  in  diphtheria  which  destroys  the  poi- 
sons brought  by  that  germ-disease  into  the  sys- 


THE  MILK-SUPPLY  55 

tern,  it  is  another  step  toward  the  prevention 
of  disease  by  neutralization.  No  slight  possi- 
bility for  the  future  is  such  safeguarding  of 
food  by  use  of  good  bacteria  to  fight  the  bad. 
Among  the  many  attempts  tending  toward  the 
stamping  out  of  disease,  this  discovery  may 
stand  as  a  precursor  of  great  and  noble  deeds. 
Probably  the  best  results  obtained  to-day 
have  come  from  the  union  of  private  enter- 
prise with  the  physicians  of  the  city  and  with 
the  lay  allies  of  reform.  The  encouragement 
of  such  united  action  may  well  become  a  pub- 
lic duty.  Wherever  wagons  upon  the  street 
bear  the  sign  "Certified  Milk,"  two  things 
are  likely  to  be  true,  —  that  the  farm  from 
which  the  wagon  comes  furnishes  good  milk, 
and  that  the  dealer  selling  the  milk  has  little 
difficulty  in  procuring  customers.  The  sign 
is  a  valuable  advertising  asset.  Certified  milk 
means,  first,  that  a  certificate  has  been  issued 
to  a  dairy  farm  by  a  committee  of  physicians, 
and  implies  that  the  farm  has  been  inspected 
and  is  in  every  way  what  it  should  be.  It 
means,  second,  that  the  milk  is  delivered  to 
the  customer  in  some  thoroughly  satisfactory 
way.  It  is  entirely  possible  that  some  features 
of  any  system  like  that  of  certification  may 


56          THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

not  be  practical  for  certain  individual  cities ; 
but  one  feature,  personal  investigation  of  the 
conditions  of  the  farm,  should  be  a  part  of 
every  milk  inspection.  In  Vancouver,  B.  C., 
for  example,  the  city  milk-seller  cannot  obtain 
a  license  unless  the  farmer  from  whom  he 
obtains  his  milk  agrees  to  inspection.  If  the 
result  of  such  supervision  is  not  satisfactory, 
the  trouble  is  removed  by  taking  away  the 
license. 

And  now,  to  summarize :  First,  the  modern 
study  of  milk  tends  to  the  exclusion  of  bacteria 
by  cleanliness  and  cold,  not  their  destruction 
by  heat.  In  general  it  considers  pasteuriza- 
tion a  fairly  satisfactory  substitute  in  emer- 
gencies where  pure  milk  cannot  be  obtained. 
Second,  mortality  statistics  tend  to  prove  that 
exclusion  is  necessary  for  the  child  and  for  the 
nation.  It  may  be  that  at  the  present  moment 
we  are  a  little  weary  of  reform.  The  pendulum 
of  warning  may  have  gone  too  far  in  some  di- 
rections, but  in  one  it  has  not  gone  far  enough. 
The  lives  of  the  city  children  hang  in  the  bal- 
ance to-day.  If  there  is  any  means  by  which 
we  can  bring  back  ruddy  cheeks  and  healthy 
bodies  to  children  unjustly  deprived  of  them, 
if  there  is  any  way  in  which  we  can  lower  our 


THE  MILK-SUPPLY  57 

present  fearful  death-rate,  who  of  the  commu- 
nity can  refuse  to  lend  interest,  or  give  aid  ? 
The  trumpet-call  that  summons  should  rouse 
each  deadened  ear,  quicken  each  dulled  soul. 
It  is  the  call  to  a  new,  all-embracing,  all- 
powerful  children's  crusade. 


Ill 

THE  CITY'S  FOOD 

OUT  of  the  gray  dawn,  from  smoky  stations 
where  grimy  engines  pant  and  heave,  by  lighted 
subways  in  swift,  silent  trains,  or  through  the 
barren  shuttered  streets  in  clanging  car,  pour 
the  great  hosts  who  do  the  city's  work.  That 
restless  river  springing  from  the  morn  bears 
in  its  flood  the  total  of  the  city's  wealth.  From 
its  requirements  rise  the  varied  activities  of 
the  city,  whose  total  economic  power  is  built 
by  massing  the  single  units  of  the  moving 
throng.  The  energy  of  this  human  river  gath- 
ers the  resources  of  sea  and  earth,  and  turns 
the  wealth  it  gains  to  the  use  and  the  service 
of  man.  On  the  preservation  of  that  energy, 
therefore,  depends  the  effective  work  of  the 
city.  Higher  and  better  living  for  all  would 
come  from  its  general  increase. 

To  gain  energy,  the  individual  has  but  one 
means  at  his  command,  his  food.  Just  as  surely 
as  the  red  flame  of  any  coal-fed  fire  dies  down, 
left  unreplenished,  so  man  dies,  once  his  food- 


THE  CITY'S  FOOD  59 

supply  is  stopped.  That  is  so  evident,  so  per- 
sonal, that  it  is  remembered.  It  is  equally  true, 
but  less  commonly  remembered,  that  as  a  fur- 
nace with  dead  ashes  about  the  walls  yields 
little  heat  despite  the  fire  within,  so  insuffi- 
cient or  wrong  foods,  poisoning  or  dulling  the 
worker,  give  him  little  energy  for  his  tasks, 
little  strength  to  bear  his  part  in  the  world's 
struggle. 

Stated  in  its  simplest  form,  the  problem  of 
the  city's  food-supply  resolves  itself  to  this: 
how  can  we  provide  the  consumer  with  health- 
ful food  which  shall  be  in  a  normal  condition 
when  it  reaches  the  table?  If  we  can  solve  that 
problem,  we  can  furnish  the  army  who  are 
attacking  the  work  of  the  world  with  a  proper 
commissary,  and  so  supply  it  with  a  require- 
ment second  to  no  other.  If  Napoleon's  fa- 
mous remark,  that  an  army  travels  on  its 
stomach,  applied  a  century  ago  to  the  invin- 
cible legions  that  so  long  dominated  Europe,  it 
is  quite  as  true  to-day  that  in  our  desperate 
struggle  for  commerical  supremacy  that  nation 
which  is  best  fed,  that  city  which  pays  the 
most  attention  to  the  food  of  the  workers 
within  its  walls,  stands  the  greatest  chance  of 
ultimate  victory. 


60  THE  HEALTH   OF  THE   CITY 

Visualizing  to  our  entire  satisfaction  the 
vegetable  garden  of  the  farm,  or  the  white 
butcher' s-cart  of  the  village,  as  the  basis  of 
our  food-supply,  we,  as  a  nation,  have  long 
been  inclined  to  neglect  the  widespread  sources 
from  which  we  draw  our  bodily  energy.  As  in 
so  many  other  civic  conditions,  the  tradition 
of  the  immediate  plenty  of  the  American  farm 
has  overcome  the  actual  reality.  What  the  city- 
dweller  should  visualize  are  the  thousands  upon 
thousands  of  tons  of  perishable  food-material 
which  are  brought  yearly  into  the  city;  for 
these,  on  their  way  to  our  homes,  must  pass 
through  a  cordon  of  attacking  foes.  The 
armored  trains  which  carried  provisions  from 
place  to  place  in  the  Boer  war,  and  the  forts 
in  which  those  provisions  were  received,  have 
no  distant  parallel  in  the  refrigerator  cars  and 
the  cold-storage  warehouses  of  the  city.  Like 
supplies  hastened  to  beleaguered  fortresses, 
our  foods  are  exposed  to  destructive  agencies 
from  the  time  they  leave  their  place  of  origin 
to  the  time  they  reach  their  final  destination. 
The  foes  that  the  foods  encounter  are  of  two 
classes,  the  natural  and  the  unnatural,  the 
forces  of  nature  and  those  of  greedy  or  igno- 
rant men.  Both  types  of  evil  can  be  avoided 


THE  CITY'S  FOOD  61 

by  the  community,  if  it  will  raise  against  them 
certain  well-recognized  guards.  To  raise  those 
guards,  some  definite  knowledge  of  the  dangers 
which  surround  the  food-supply  is  imperative. 
In  common  parlance  we  say  that  an  orange 
which  has  turned  soft,  or  a  piece  of  meat  which 
becomes  tainted,  is  spoiled.  The  housekeeper 
looking  over  the  contents  of  the  ice-chest  says, 
"  This  must  be  eaten  to-day,  for  it  will  not 
keep  until  to-morrow."  In  such  expressions  we 
instinctively  recognize  the  existence  of  destruc- 
tive agencies.  It  is  comparatively  seldom  that 
we  fully  realize  that  what  we  call  the  spoil- 
ing of  food  is  one  of  the  great  movements 
of  natural  order  in  the  world,  that  it  is  the 
attempt  of  nature  to  do  one  of  two  things: 
either  to  encourage  new  life  at  the  expense  of 
a  substance  which  has  lived  its  allotted  time, 
or  to  destroy  and  clear  away  matter  which  has 
served  its  purpose  and  is  ready  for  removal. 
Food-materials,  left  under  conditions  where 
plant-life  can  exist,  become  fertile  soil.  Decom- 
position of  food-materials  is  produced  by  micro- 
organic  life  growing  in  that  soil,  life  which  is 
attempting  to  clear  away  organic  wastes  from 
the  face  of  the  earth,  and  return  the  substances 
which  have  composed  those  wastes  into  such 


62          THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

elemental  form  that  they  can  serve  once  more 
as  food  for  plant-life. 

All  round  us,  in  library  and  kitchen,  in 
office  and  laboratory,  on  hill  and  valley, 
through  winter  cold  and  summer  heat,  flour- 
ishes the  garden  of  the  air,  a  garden  rilled 
with  countless  myriads  of  tiny  plants.  There 
may  be  found  threadlike  moulds  such  as  form 
on  bread  or  cheese;  wild  yeasts,  such  as  fer- 
ment fruit  juices  and  change  sweet  cider  to 
hard  cider;  and  bacteria  like  the  mother  of 
vinegar,  which  turns  hard  cider  into  vinegar, 
or  like  those  other  types  of  the  same  group 
of  tiny  plants  which,  by  decomposition,  break 
down  the  organic  structure  of  the  foods  in 
many  fashions. 

The  moulds,  the  yeasts,  and  the  bacteria, 
all  of  which  may  be  grouped  as  micro-organ- 
isms, share  certain  general  peculiarities.  All 
three  belong  to  the  great  general  group  of 
fungi,  a  group  of  plants  which  take  their 
nourishment  from  the  soil  on  which  they  rest ; 
and,  like  their  relatives  of  this  group,  these 
organisms,  as  they  grow  and  take  in  food, 
break  down  the  organic  matter  which  affords 
them  lodging  and  nourishment.  All  three  of 
these  plant-types  thrive  best  under  conditions 


THE  CITY'S  FOOD  63 

of  darkness,  warmth,  and  moisture.  All  three 
flourish  in  dirt,  and  dirt  is  laden  heavily  with 
these  tiny  bodies.  Cleanliness  and  cold  are  two 
great  guards  by  which  we  can  protect  food 
against  the  attack  of  decomposing  micro-or- 
ganic life.  The  clean,  cool  ice-chest  preserves 
food  in  the  home.  The  hot,  moist  kitchen 
destroys  it.  The  first,  by  cleanliness  and  low 
temperature,  tends  to  retard  micro-organic 
growth.  The  second,  by  the  increased  oppor- 
tunity for  dirt  and  dust  and  by  a  higher  tem- 
perature, fosters  the  plant-life  of  the  air. 

The  normal  tendency  of  leaf,  stem,  flower, 
and  fruit  is  to  turn  at  last  to  the  cellulose 
and  lignin  of  the  tree-trunk.  In  the  action  of 
organisms  which  attack  the  fallen  forest  tree 
and,  decomposing  it,  return  its  elements  to 
the  ground  from  which  they  sprang,  may  be 
seen  the  agencies  through  which  old  life  is 
constantly  exchanged  for  new.  Were  it  not 
for  such  action,  the  fresh  and  living  plants 
which  give  us  food  might,  ere  this,  have  be- 
come locked  fast  in  harsh,  unyielding,  woody 
fibre,  which  offers  nutrients  to  neither  man 
nor  beast.  Nor  does  such  action  show  the  only 
value  of  micro-organic  life.  A  modern  sew- 
age-plant will  be  referred  to  later  as  a  pile  of 


64          THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

rocks  on  which  bacterial  films  gather.  The 
bacteria  of  those  films  are  fulfilling  their  ac- 
tion as  earth's  scavengers  when  they  break 
down  the  sewage  flowing  over  them,  and  turn 
the  objectionable  organic  wastes  to  simple  in- 
organic forms. 

A  few  short  phrases  sum  up  conditions. 
The  natural  enemies  of  food-preservation  are 
micro-organic  plants,  which  flourish  the  world 
over,  ever  ready  for  their  tasks  of  decomposi- 
tion. With  foods  as  a  common  habitat,  these 
organisms  in  their  process  of  growth  break 
down  the  structure  of  the  foods  into  forms  un- 
palatable and  often  directly  injurious  to  man. 
Yet  the  growth  of  such  micro-organic  life  is 
a  necessity  of  nature.  Man  can  oppose  it  only 
in  some  part.  He  can,  however,  control  it, 
in  so  far  as  necessity  requires,  by  cleanliness 
and  a  cool  temperature.  The  preservation  of 
the  city's  food  by  dryness,  a  third  protection 
against  the  decomposing  organisms,  is  im- 
practicable for  many  of  the  foods  because  of 
their  normal  content  of  water. 

The  incoming  of  the  city's  foods  is  of  it- 
self a  splendid  pageant.  Wheat  trains,  rush- 
ing from  the  wide  horizon  of  the  West ;  fish- 
ing schooners,  tacking  up  from  off  the  Banks; 


THE  CITY'S  FOOD  65 

refrigerator  cars,  hastening  across  the  conti- 
nent, laden  with  the  spoils  of  a  thousand 
herds;  high-topped  wagons  hauled  by  sturdy 
Percherons,  looming  in  over  the  country  roads 
in  the  freshness  of  the  earliest  dawn ;  crates 
filled  with  golden  oranges,  with  luscious 
peaches,  with  heavy  hanging  grapes,  hasten- 
ing upon  their  city  way;  huge  mo  tor- vans, 
piled  high  with  dainties,  speeding  through  the 
bustling  streets;  all  such  inrushing,  converg- 
ing evidence  of  natural  plenty  offers  a  wide 
breadth  of  thought,  a  feeling  of  greatness,  a 
sense  of  pride  in  this  rich  and  glorious  coun- 
try in  which  we  live. 

But  there  is  a  dark  reverse  to  this  splendid 
shifting  curtain.  Down  on  the  East  Side  lives 
a  Russian  Jew,  a  vender  of  fruit,  who  finds 
a  hand-barrow  quite  large  enough  for  all  his 
meagre  stock  in  trade.  A  weary  day  has  gone, 
whose  long  rounds  have  been  profitless.  Back 
comes  the  wretched  stock  to  the  home  in  the 
hot  tenement,  to  go  out  again,  already  well  on 
in  the  process  of  putrefaction,  to  be  offered 
for  sale  the  next  morning  in  the  sweltering 
streets.  The  fruit-peddler's  action  in  selling 
his  damaged  goods  may  be  deliberate  or  igno- 
rant; whichever  it  is,  matters  little  as  regards 


66  THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

results.  Nature  makes  no  allowances.  Her  laws 
are  inexorable.  Food  such  as  this,  uninspected 
and  uncondemned,  ravages  the  weakened 
frames  of  the  city's  poor,  and  the  exhausted 
doctors,  those  warriors  of  the  high-walled 
streets,  report  after  such  a  sale,  "Another 
epidemic  caused  by  rotten  food."  One  great 
necessity  for  inspection  is  laid  bare  by  such 
conditions. 

While  ignorance,  while  deep  need  (for  the 
loss  of  one  day's  stock  may  mean  starvation 
to  the  seller),  while  greed,  can  control  the  ac- 
tions of  the  small  provider  of  food  to  the  ranks 
of  the  poor,  the  city  must  guard  its  children. 
Go  into  the  slums  of  your  city,  and  enter  the 
small  grocery  and  the  butcher-shop /frC7ean7i- 
ness  and  cool  temperature  I  gave  as  the  two 
great  guards  against  the  decomposing  action 
of  the  micro-organisms.  See  how  the  shops  of 
the  tenement  streets  provide  those  guards,  and 
then  read  the  general  death-rate  from  intes- 
tinal disease  in  the  summer.  Put  milk  in  a 
separate  category,  for  that  is  a  still  greater 
problem,  and,  even  with  that  omission,  you  will 
have  much  to  ponder  over. 

The  men  who  use  adulteratives,  the  sellers 
of  "  embalmed  beef,"  and  the  venders  of  other 


THE  CITY'S  FOOD  67 

substances  which  have  been  treated  with  inju- 
rious types  of  preservatives,  can  hardly  plead 
ignorance  as  an  excuse  for  the  continuance  of 
their  methods.  The  discussion  of  pure  foods 
which  has  gone  on  in  recent  years,  the  pure- 
food  laws  which  have  been  passed  by  federal 
and  state  authorities,  have  been  sufficient  to 
enlighten  any  manufacturer  as  to  the  neces- 
sities of  the  situation.  But  so  long  as  crime 
is  committed  for  the  sake  of  gain,  the  public 
must  be  protected  against  the  deliberate  at- 
tempt of  unscrupulous  manufacturers  and 
dealers  in  foodstuffs,  who  work  injury  in  the 
pursuit  of  their  own  profit. 

Indeed,  it  may  hardly  be  too  general  to  say 
that  the  evil  done  to  the  city's  food  by  its  un- 
natural foes  may  be  divided  into  three  classes. 
These  may  be  stated  as  follows :  First,  men 
may  deliberately  offer  for  sale  food  which  has 
begun  the  process  of  decomposition.  Second, 
they  may  treat  food  with  preservatives  which, 
while  they  destroy  or  prevent  the  action  of 
micro-organisms,  are  injurious  to  the  human 
frame.  Third,  they  may  adulterate,  or  substi- 
tute, cheaper,  poorer  foods  for  better,  more 
nutritious  foods. 

"  But,"  the  reader  will  very  possibly  cry  in 


68  THE   HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

surprise  at  this  point,  "  I  thought  all  that  had 
been  settled.  How  about  the  pure-food  laws 
that  have  been  passed?  How  about  the  work 
of  the  Boards  of  Health?  How  about  the 
crusade  of  the  last  four  years,  mentioned  a 
moment  ago?  We  may  not  be  able  to  control 
the  natural  foes  of  food,  but  surely  there  are 
laws  to  control  the  unnatural  ones." 

It  is  almost  a  national  fallacy  to  believe  that 
once  a  law  has  been  placed  upon  the  statute- 
books  safety  has  been  secured,  even  though 
such  a  law  has  been  passed  without  sufficient 
enforcing  power,  or  sufficient  money  to  pro- 
vide for  proper  enforcement.  Much  has  been 
done;  no  inconsiderable  beginning  has  been 
made;  but  large  bodies  move  slowly,  and  the 
impetus  necessary  to  arouse  general  feeling  to 
the  point  where  the  American  people  will  re- 
quire proper  inspection  and  control  of  all  food- 
supplies  is  still  far  from  attainment.  Without 
attempting  to  enumerate  the  merits  or  defects 
of  all  the  statutes  which  have  been  passed 
for  our  protection,  suppose  we  consider  for 
a  moment  certain  difficulties  which  surround 
the  most  general  law  of  them  all. 

Whatever  the  local  condition  around  him, 
the  citizen  who  thinks  of  the  matter  puts  his 


THE  CITY'S  FOOD  69 

trust  chiefly  in  the  Food  and  Drugs  Act, 
passed  by  Congress  on  June  30, 1906.  Three 
analogous  pieces  of  work  accomplished  by  the 
national  government :  the  law  just  cited,  with 
its  regulations,  alterations,  and  amendments; 
the  work  done  on  standards  of  purity ;  and 
the  so-called  "  Meat-Inspection  Amendment," 
which  regulated  the  meat-control  of  the  De- 
partment of  Agriculture,  contain  much  that 
is  admirable.  From  the  very  nature  of  the  re- 
lation between  the  federal  and  state  authori- 
ties, there  are  many  things  that  the  nation 
cannot  do.  Two  brief  quotations  from  the 
Food  and  Drugs  Act  may  serve  to  make  this 
clear. 

This  is  "  An  Act  for  preventing  the  manu- 
facture, sale,  or  transportation  of  adulterated 
or  misbranded  or  poisonous  or  deleterious 
foods,  drugs,  medicines,  and  liquors,  and  for 
regulating  traffic  therein,  and  for  other  pur- 
poses." Section  1  provides,  "  That  it  shall  be 
unlawful  for  any  person  to  manufacture  within 
any  Territory  or  the  District  of  Columbia, 
any  article  of  food  or  drug  which  is  adulter- 
ated or  misbranded,  within  the  meaning  of  this 
Act."  Section  2  provides,  "  That  the  intro- 
duction into  any  State  or  Territory  or  the 


70  THE  HEALTH   OF  THE  CITY 

District  of  Columbia,  or  from  any  foreign 
country,  or  shipment  to  any  foreign  country, 
of  any  article  of  food  or  drug  which  is  adul- 
terated or  misbranded  within  the  meaning  of 
this  Act,  is  hereby  prohibited." 

These  brief  quotations  show  the  limitations 
of  federal  law.  The  Territories  and  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia  are  under  the  direction  of 
Congress.  The  shipments  of  foods  from  state 
to  state,  like  export  and  import,  can  be  con- 
trolled by  officers  of  the  national  government ; 
but  the  traffic  in  food-supplies  which  goes  on 
within  the  borders  of  any  state  must  be  regu- 
lated by  the  government  of  the  individual 
state.  Each  of  these  bodies  politic  presents  a 
different  solution  of  the  question.  Certain 
states  have  met  the  problem  bravely,  have  en- 
deavored to  solve  it  by  the  aid  of  expert  opin- 
ion and  without  reference  to  the  clamors  of 
special  interests.  Some  few  (a  most  essential 
point)  have  endeavored  to  back  up  their  laws 
by  boards  of  control,  with  inspectors  to  carry 
out  their  mandates.  In  other  cases,  the  cry  of 
selfish  interests  still  dominates  the  assemblies. 
Laws,  if  passed  at  all,  are  passed  without  suf- 
ficient reference  to  expert  advice,  and  by  their 
verbiage  are  practically  nullified.  The  thou- 


THE  CITY'S  FOOD  71 

sand  demands  for  money  which  the  long-estab- 
lished departments  of  our  commonwealths 
bring  forward,  leave  little  to  spare  for  the 
newer  sanitary  inspection,  necessary  as  such 
a  department  is  for  the  health  of  the  citizen. 

Multiply  the  difficulties  of  the  nation  by 
fifty,  more  or  less,  and  you  have  the  difficulties 
which  confront  proper  food-regulations  in  the 
states.  Multiply  the  fifty  of  the  states  by  hun- 
dreds reaching  into  thousands,  and  you  have 
the  difficulties  which  are  before  the  munici- 
palities when  they  desire  properly  to  control 
the  food  of  the  individual  citizen.  Yet,  as 
we  get  down  to  the  intra-mural  conditions  of 
the  municipality,  some  balancing  conditions 
appear.  These  we  shall  consider  in  a  moment. 

That  crowded  concourse,  the  modern  city, 
which  has  left  behind  the  possibilities  of  indi- 
vidualistic control,  has  been  forced,  step  by 
step,  to  a  collective  control  of  its  prime  neces- 
sities. The  paving  of  the  streets,  the  protection 
of  the  houses  from  fire  and  theft,  the  educa- 
tion of  the  children,  have  long  been  wisely 
placed  under  the  municipal  government.  De- 
fective administration  of  these  departments 
calls  for  swift  correction.  Is  the  insurance  of 
the  healthfulness  of  food,  that  vital  question 


72  THE  HEALTH   OF  THE   CITY 

which  so  intimately  touches  the  welfare  of  each 
individual,  of  less  importance  than  these? 
The  body  in  which  the  control  of  food  is 
vested  is  commonly  the  Board  of  Health. 
Have  you  seen  headlines  in  your  morning- 
paper  within  the  last  year  or  two,  referring  to 
the  holding  up  of  an  appointment  to  that  body, 
or  to  the  rejection  of  a  candidate  because  of 
political  beliefs?  How  many  cities  have  reached 
the  point  of  making  a  man  trained  in  scientific 
methods,  especially  a  sanitarian,  a  member  of 
such  a  board?  The  medical  men  of  such  bodies 
are  doing  an  invaluable  service.  How  many 
of  the  problems  which  confront  them  could 
be  solved  by  men  with  the  training  of  the  en- 
gineer? The  state  can  do  little  in  regulating 
the  affairs  of  all  the  municipalities  within  its 
lines.  The  adjustment  of  home  conditions 
must  depend  upon  the  men  whom  you  elect  in 
your  cities.  Once  more,  bring  the  matter  to 
the  argumentum  ad  hominem  :  what  do  you 
personally  know  about  the  health-control  of 
your  own  city  ? 

Fortunately,  our  instinctive  training  of  cen- 
turies past  does  much  for  us  in  the  way  of  pro- 
tection. The  table  of  our  earliest  forbears  was 
limited  in  the  extreme,  and  its  variety  could 


THE  CITY'S  FOOD  73 

be  enlarged  only  by  experiment.  A  tempting 
cluster  of  berries  on  some  shrub  in  the  neo- 
lithic forest  might  be  a  delicious  dessert,  or  it 
might  be  a  violent  poison.  Brave  experiment 
alone  could  determine  which.  It  was  a  hard 
predicament.  If  the  early-research  man  guessed 
right,  he  had  a  valuable  addition  to  his  diet. 
If  he  guessed  wrong,  he  died.  Blunted  as  our 
senses  are  by  centuries  of  civilization,  the  in- 
stinctive training  which  primeval  man  received 
in  the  choice  of  good  and  bad  food  has  per- 
sisted to  this  very  day.  The  evidence  of  the 
senses  is  no  mean  aid  to  assist  the  buyer  of 
the  household's  food-supplies  to  ward  off  evil. 
But  the  senses  are  an  insufficient  guard  at 
best.  Two  factors  in  the  city  are  constantly 
arrayed  against  them.  First,  the  resources  of 
the  man  who  deliberately  doctors  his  damaged 
goods  in  such  a  way  as  to  disguise  their  real 
condition,  —  the  seller  who  renders  impure 
goods  savory  to  the  taste  and  pleasant  to  the 
eye ;  and  second,  the  desperate  need  of  the 
poor.  And  after  all,  defective  conditions  in  the 
city  always  bear  most  heavily  on  that  class,  on 
the  ones  who  can  endure  them  least  easily. 
The  poor  suffer  most  from  bad  air,  bad  water, 
and  wretched  food.  In  few  respects  are  they 


74  THE   HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

more  heavily  handicapped  than  in  their  choice 
of  food.  The  lesser  cost  of  damaged  goods  is 
a  fearful  temptation  to  the  slender  purse  of 
the  ignorant  woman  of  the  tenements ;  the 
stores  where  she  buys  her  food-supplies  offer 
but  little  choice  for  well  or  ill.  Few  more  im- 
mediate duties  confront  the  municipality  to-day 
than  the  guardianship  of  the  food  of  its  poor. 

We  cannot  better  conditions  by  not  recog- 
nizing them.  While  money  rules  the  world, 
men  will  sell  impure  or  damaged  food-supplies 
ignorantly  or  wickedly ;  and  since  the  national 
law  cannot  affect  the  sale  of  goods  of  this  sort 
within  the  boundaries  of  the  state,  we  must 
pass  state  and  municipal  laws  for  our  own  pro- 
tection. To  make  them  effective,  they  must  be 
intrusted  for  enforcement  to  competent  men, 
backed  by  ample  supplies  of  money.  Obtain- 
ing a  maximum  of  control  with  a  minimum  of 
money  is  a  theme  inseparably  connected  with 
the  centres  of  sale  of  food-supplies,  the  mar- 
kets, abattoirs,  and  bakeries.  That  brings  us 
directly  to  those  important  considerations. 

The  Old  World  shows  the  market  in  its  first 
stage  and  in  its  last.  The  New  World,  save 
here  and  there  in  scattered  foreign  quarters  or 
in  the  great  marts  of  trade,  shows  stages  in 


THE  CITY'S  FOOD  75 

between.  Rise  early  any  morning  in  the  little 
German  town,  and  stroll  along  the  cobbled 
streets  to  the  square  where  the  church  so  often 
forms  the  background  of  the  market-place. 
There  you  will  find  the  direct  successor  of  the 
ayopa  of  the  Greek,  the  forum  of  the  Roman. 
The  market-woman  under  her  broad  umbrella ; 
the  picturesque  peasant  with  his  rude  country- 
cart  filled  with  fresh  produce ;  the  frocked 
butcher  weighing  a  piece  of  meat  in  his  niche 
in  the  wall :  each  is  selling  his  wares  under 
practically  the  same  conditions  that  prevailed 
two  thousand  years  or  more  ago.  Such  mar- 
kets offer  an  example  of  the  most  primitive 
type  of  trade,  direct  barter  between  the  pro- 
ducer and  the  consumer ;  a  barter  carried  on, 
in  some  German  towns  at  least,  under  strict 
surveillance  of  the  health  authorities.  In  more 
than  one  market  of  that  type  I  have  seen  a 
cleanliness  and  an  order  foreign  to  far  better 
theoretical  conditions  in  American  cities. 

Paris  offered  to  the  world  the  first  great 
example  of  the  modern  market,  built  and 
controlled  by  the  government.  Napoleon  the 
First,  warrior,  statesman,  jurist,  and  sanitary 
engineer,  found  time  among  his  many  labors 
to  accomplish  many  salient  municipal  and  gov- 


76          THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

ernmental  reforms.  The  great  "  Halles  Cen- 
trales"  of  Paris,  those  iron-pillared,  zinc- 
roofed  pavilions  through  which  run  covered 
streets,  were  planned  under  his  direction,  and 
Begun  in  1811,  in  his  reign.  These  markets 
are  said  to  cover  not  far  from  twenty  acres, 
and  their  pavilions  are  subdivided  into  numer- 
ous tiny  stalls.  The  early  example  of  the  Halles 
Centrales  has  been  carried  on  since  by  simi- 
lar markets  built  in  other  parts  of  Paris,  and 
the  profits  which  the  municipality  has  realized 
from  these  sources  have  been  large. 

London,  Berlin,  Vienna,  and  other  European 
cities  soon  followed  Paris  in  the  work  of  regu- 
lating the  food-supply,  and  have  raised  mar- 
kets on  an  almost  monumental  scale  during 
the  last  half-century.  The  American  markets 
cannot  be  compared  with  those  found  abroad, 
in  size,  completeness  of  equipment,  and  ease  of 
control.  To  particularize,  such  markets  as  the 
Fulton  or  Washington  in  New  York,  or  the 
Faneuil  Hall  Market  in  Boston,  are  not  in 
the  same  class  with  the  great  modern  markets 
of  the  European  capitals. 

While  the  single  market  in  the  town  square 
sufficed  temporarily  for  the  small  segregated 
town,  the  gradual  spread  of  population  soon 


THE  CITY'S  FOOD  77 

carried  with  it  separation  of  the  centres  of 
food-supply,  so  that  grocery  and  butcher-shops 
sprang  up  in  every  little  sub-centre  of  popula- 
tion. The  opening  of  such  scattered  shops  has 
greatly  increased  the  difficulty  of  bringing 
food  in  its  best  condition  to  the  consumer. 
Berlin,  with  its  fifteen  great  markets,  can 
control  each  one  by  an  individual  corps  of 
attached  inspectors,  and  do  this  at  a  minimum 
of  expense.  To  secure  thorough  inspection  of 
the  widely  scattered  food-shops  of  New  York 
and  Chicago  is  vastly  more  expensive  and 
trying. 

If  we  assume  two  premises,  that  a  proper 
control  and  inspection  of  food-supplies  makes 
for  the  good  of  the  city,  and  that  such  con- 
trol and  inspection  should  be  carried  out  at  a 
minimum  of  expense,  four  questions  confront 
the  interested  citizen  with  regard  to  the  mar- 
kets of  the  community.  What  are  the  advan- 
tages of  centralized  markets  as  opposed  to  our 
present  separated  ones  ?  What  should  be  the 
general  location  of  such  markets?  What  should 
be  the  general  internal  construction  of  the 
buildings?  Should  the  ownership  of  the  mar- 
kets be  vested  in  the  public,  or  should  they  be 
under  private  control  ? 


78  THE  HEALTH   OF  THE  CITY 

City  reservoirs  have  long  taken  the  place 
of  the  garden  well ;  and  city  water,  because  of 
its  distribution  from  a  main  source  of  supply, 
can  be  readily  inspected  for  its  purity.  The 
furnishing  of  food-supplies  must  always  re- 
main a  problem  strongly  distinct  from  the  fur- 
nishing of  the  first-named  great  necessity ; 
yet  city  water,  entering  at  a  single  point  and 
radiating  out  through  different  streets  to  indi- 
vidual houses,  may  furnish  us  with  a  valuable 
analogy.  By  a  system  of  centralization  com- 
parable to  that  already  employed  with  water, 
the  establishment  of  centralized  markets  will 
do  away  with  a  large  part  of  the  difficulty  of 
control.  Such  movements  have  proved  direct 
magnets  to  trade.  Such  markets  have  become 
the  centre  of  the  food-movement  of  the  city. 
Centralization  has  shown  other  merits  besides 
the  primary  one  of  control.  In  the  smaller 
city  a  single  market  may  be  used  for  whole- 
sale trade  in  the  early  morning  hours,  and 
for  retail  trade  during  the  day.  In  the  greater 
city  a  division  into  parts,  with  a  great  whole- 
sale market  as  a  main  source  of  supply,  and 
a  radial  series  of  retail  markets  placed  at  sub- 
centres  of  population  and  fed  by  the  central 
market,  would  seem  to  be  the  ideal  arrange- 


THE  CITY'S  FOOD  79 

ment.  Such  a  hub-and-spokes  arrangement 
should  prove  particularly  effective  when  we 
consider  its  possibilities  with  regard  to  build- 
ing markets  for  the  poor,  a  matter  to  be  con- 
sidered in  some  detail  a  moment  later. 

The  general  location  of  the  markets  should 
be  determined  chiefly  by  the  conditions  of 
transportation.  With  vegetables  and  fruits, 
as  with  milk,  it  is  essential  to  their  purity  to 
transmit  them  to  the  consumer  in  the  shortest 
possible  space  after  their  preparation.  Those 
markets  accomplish  the  swiftest  transfer  of 
goods  to  the  receiver  where  cold-storage  cars 
can  deliver  directly  to  the  doors,  where  the 
laden  wagons  from  the  adjacent  country-side 
can  most  readily  bring  their  fresh-gathered 
goods,  or  where  inland  waterways  or  ocean 
docks  are  close  at  hand.  Every  such  central 
market  should  have  its  cold-storage  warehouse, 
and  its  devices  for  supplying  cold  storage  to 
the  tenants  who  rent  the  stalls.  Convergence 

O 

of  transportation  to  a  single  point  is  one 
of  the  best  safeguards  of  food.  Swiftness  of 
delivery  and  continuance  of  low  temperature 
oppose  the  decomposing  action  of  the  plants 
of  the  garden  of  the  air.  The  location  of  the 
sub-markets  in  a  radial  system  must,  of  course, 


80  THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

be  controlled  by  the  position  of  the  centres  of 
population.  In  these  days  of  motor-wagons 
and  tube-systems  of  delivery,  the  problem  of 
transportation  from  a  central  point  to  the 
minor  marts  becomes  a  by  no  means  difficult 
matter. 

Not  the  least  argument  in  favor  of  central- 
ization may  be  found  in  the  increased  facili- 
ties afforded  as  regards  garbage  removal.  The 
need  for  a  satisfactory  service  of  this  kind 
may  be  readily  recognized  when  two  state- 
ments are  placed  side  by  side.  The  natural 
enemies  of  pure  food  flourish  almost  beyond 
belief  in  the  organic  wastes  cleared  from  the 
food-shop.  Some  of  our  better  ordered  muni- 
cipalities think  it  sufficient,  even  in  midsum- 
mer, to  collect  garbage  but  once  a  day.  Other 
less  progressive  cities  believe  their  duty  done 
when  the  accumulated  wastes  are  removed 
twice  a  week. 

The  construction  of  markets  is,  in  its  detail, 
a  matter  for  architect  and  engineer;  but 
since  laymen  must  use  the  finished  work,  the 
simple  details  laid  down  by  William  Paul 
Gerhard,  in  his  excellent  work  on  the  "  Sani- 
tation of  Markets  and  Abattoirs,"  may  be 
quoted :  — 


THE  CITY'S  FOOD  81 

"  The  chief  constructional  requirements  [of 
markets]  are  the  following :  — 

"  1.  The  halls  must  have  ample  light. 

"2.  They  must  not  be  draughty,  yet  be 
well  ventilated. 

"  3.  They  must  afford  plenty  of  floor  space 
and  storage  room. 

"4.  They  must  have  plenty  of  exits  and 
passageways,  also  driveways  for  the  unload- 
ing and  loading  of  wagons. 

"  5.  They  must  be  well  and  substantially 
constructed." 

Those  five  sentences  sum  up  the  require- 
ments well. 

Now  for  the  answer  to  the  last  of  the  four 
questions,  public  versus  private  control.  If 
the  modern  theory  is  correct,  which  assumes 
that  it  is  a  part  of  the  duty  of  the  munici- 
pality to  care  for  the  health  of  its  citizens,  it 
is  surely  a  legitimate  function  of  the  muni- 
cipal government  to  undertake  the  building 
and  ownership  of  public  markets.  The  trades- 
man who  rents  the  stall  from  the  municipality 
comes,  by  that  act,  directly  under  the  rules 
which  may  be  laid  down  for  the  control  of  the 
market.  The  inspector  who  condemns  goods 
in  accordance  with  such  rules  has  no  mean 


82          THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

moral  support  behind  him.  In  consequence, 
the  customer  who  buys  his  household  supplies 
from  the  centralized  municipal  market  has  a 
better  chance  of  protection  than  in  buildings 
•where  private  companies,  seeking  the  largest 
dividends  possible,  may  be  in  conflict  with  the 
officers  of  health.  Nor  need  such  a  venture 
be  an  altruistic  one.  The  ownership  of  public 
markets  has  proved  no  losing  venture  for  many 
cities.  Yet  the  municipality,  if  the  movement 
is  to  prove  of  its  utmost  value,  should  not 
look  toward  making  dividends,  for  the  ultimate 
purpose  of  such  ownership  is  not  the  imme- 
diate pecuniary  gain,  but  rather  that  more 
general  gain  that  results  from  the  better  health 
and  greater  energy  of  a  well-nourished  people. 
Beyond  all  else,  markets  so  built  and  so  con- 
trolled should  result  in  advantage  to  the  class 
which  needs  them  most,  the  city's  poor. 

Few  luxuries  are  more  expensive  than  the 
five  cents'  worth  of  the  poor.  The  cost  of 
lodging  and  food,  two  of  the  absolute  neces- 
sities of  community  life,  is  a  tremendous  prob- 
lem to  the  great  majority  of  the  city-dwellers. 
To  the  poor  the  margin  by  which  these  are 
secured  at  all  is  scant  indeed.  It  is  the  more 
pitiful,  therefore,  that  only  in  the  luxurious 


THE  CITY'S  FOOD  83 

shops  of  the  rich  do  foods  cost  as  much  as 
among  the  tenements.  The  small  quantities 
consumed,  the  meagre  variety,  the  hand-to- 
mouth  method  of  buying,  all  combine  to 
make  the  nourishment  obtained  far  less  than 
it  should  be  for  the  money  expended. 

Municipal  markets  placed  less  to  accommo- 
date, the  rich  or  well-to-do  than  to  reach  the 
buyers  of  the  tenement  district,  markets  whose 
stalls  offer  the  variety  desired  by  the  many 
races  who  make  up  our  cosmopolitan  whole, 
are  a  most  immediate  necessity.  The  Italian 
emigrant  woman,  bewildered  for  years  by  a 
new  land  and  by  strange  customs,  will  seek 
the  dirty  Italian  shop  in  the  back  street,  if 
there  are  no  stalls  in  the  public  building  where 
she  can  chaffer  in  her  own  tongue.  The  ex- 
tortion of  the  small  shop  cannot  continue 
where  the  entering  buyer  passes  a  hundred 
stalls  offering  the  same  quality  of  goods. 
Once  more  let  us  reiterate  a  salient  point.  The 
cost  of  stalls  in  such  markets,  the  necessary 
running  expenses  for  keeping  up  the  busi- 
ness, should  be  distinctively  lower  than  those 
charged  by  the  tenement  landlord  outside. 
The  municipality  cannot  afford  to  have  its 
markets  too  profitable  an  investment.  Sick- 


84  THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

ness  from  poor  food,  lack  of  energy  from  in- 
sufficient nourishment,  are  fearful  drains  on 
a  city's  total  resources.  The  proper  control  of 
markets  is  a  step  along  the  lines  of  preventive 
medicine. 

The  meat-stall  of  the  market  must  buy  its 
goods  from  the  slaughter-house  or  abattoir. 
No  other  part  of  the  providing  of  the  city's 
food  has  come  to  the  attention  of  the  public 
as  has  this  single  trade.  Mr.  Upton  Sinclair's 
novel "  The  Jungle  " ;  the  report  of  the  commis- 
sion named  by  President  Roosevelt  to  consider 
conditions  in  the  abattoirs ;  the  work  of  the 
illustrated  weeklies  and  the  daily  newspapers, 
—  all  have  combined  to  stir  the  public  deeply. 
The  past  is  a  matter  of  history,  and  the  former 
conditions  of  many  of  the  slaughter-houses 
have  proved  to  be  wretched  beyond  belief. 
The  reforms  accomplished  have  already  been 
considerable,  a  result  due  largely  to  the  fact 
that  most  of  the  abattoirs  are  engaged  in 
interstate  commerce,  which  fact  places  them 
under  the  control  of  the  national  government. 
Numerous  smaller  abattoirs  catering  to  local 
trade  still  exist,  however,  and  the  same  general 
statements  that  apply  to  the  public  ownership 
and  control  of  markets  may  well  apply  to  these. 


THE  CITY'S  FOOD  85 

Certain  characteristics  of  the  work  of  the 
abattoirs  differentiate  their  problems  from 
those  of  the  markets.  The  very  nature  of  their 
business  is  of  a  more  filthy  and  disagreeable 
sort,  and  demands  especial  precautions  with 
regard  to  cleanliness  and  the  preservation  of 
the  products.  The  wholesale  nature  of  the 
trade  allows  the  abattoir  and  the  stockyards, 
which  normally  are  adjacent  to  it,  to  stand  in  a 
location  outside  the  centres  of  population.  Not 
only  the  unpleasant  features  of  the  slaughter- 
ing business,  but  also  the  odors  due  to  utili- 
zation of  the  by-products,  such  as  the  making 
of  soap  and  the  handling  of  hides,  horns,  and 
hoofs,  make  it  extremely  inadvisable  to  locate 
abattoirs  in  residential  sections  of  any  class. 

One  model  abattoir  erected  recently  in  New 
York  has  commonly  been  referred  to  of  late 
as  presenting  an  excellent  example  of  what 
a  plant  of  this  type  should  be.  Abattoirs  may 
be  divided  into  two  general  classes :  those  but 
a  single  story  high  and  extending  over  a  con- 
siderable ground  area,  and  those  which  are 
several  stories  high  and  extend  over  a  com- 
paratively limited  area.  The  abattoir  of  the 
New  York  Butchers'  Dressed  Meat  Company 
is  of  the  second  type. 


86          THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

In  this  slaughter-house  the  cattle  coming 
from  the  cars  at  the  gates  follow  two  white 
bell-wethers  up  long  graded  inclines,  rising 
story  after  story,  till  the  roof  is  reached,  where 
the  pens  for  the  steers  are  located.  Below 
the  beef -pens  are  pens  for  calves,  sheep,  and 
lambs.  All  of  these  are  open  to  the  air.  From 
the  roof  the  operations  of  the  abattoir  go  on 
in  regular  order  downward  from  floor  to  floor. 
The  floor  below  the  roof  holds  the  slaughter- 
ing-room, where  all  slaughtering  is  done  in 
"  kosher  "  fashion .  Below  are  the  refrigerating 
rooms,  which  are  kept  at  a  constant  tempera- 
ture of  two  degrees  above  freezing.  Below 
these  are  rooms  for  the  utilization  of  the  vari- 
ous by-products  of  the  slaughtering.  Every 
part  of  the  animal  is  used  for  one  purpose 
or  another,  and  cleanliness  is  the  law  of  the 
establishment  from  start  to  finish. 

The  market  stands  before  our  eyes :  the 
abattoir  carries  on  its  work  beyond  our  vision. 
Yet  the  same  need  exists  for  both,  —  control 
brought  into  being  and  sustained  by  a  firm 
public  spirit,  a  reliant  public  opinion. 

The  bakery,  a  third  general  distributor 
of  food-supplies,  needs  the  same  protection 
against  the  enemies  of  food  as  that  claimed  by 


THE  CITY'S  FOOD  87 

the  market  and  the  abattoir ;  centralized  mu- 
nicipal ownership  is  hardly  practical  in  this 
case,  but  the  need  of  civic  regulation  is  a  vital 
one,  which  presses  more  urgently  year  by 
year. 

The  disappearance  of  the  art  and  practice 
of  cooking  in  the  homes  of  the  city  is  one  of 
the  noteworthy  signs  of  the  age.  The  girl  in 
employment,  whether  she  gains  her  wage  by 
labor  in  the  mill,  the  department-store,  or  the 
office,  has  had  little  chance  or  inclination  to 
take  up  the  household  sciences  before  marriage. 
Her  mother,  though  of  the  generation  before, 
is  likely  to  have  had  much  the  same  experience 
as  the  daughter,  can  offer  but  slight  knowledge, 
and  has  little  skill  as  a  teacher.  As  an  inev- 
itable result,  thousands  of  families  fall  back 
on  the  baker  to  make  up  in  some  part  the  defi- 
ciency in  home  training.  City  after  city  uses 
baker's  loaves  to  the  number  of  tens  and  hun- 
dreds of  thousands.  The  enormous  increase  in 
the  production  of  cooked  food  in  the  city  is 
pregnant  with  matter  for  careful  consideration. 

Stand  waiting  for  your  car  beside  a  corner 
bake-shop,  when  the  mills  are  pouring  out  their 
living  stream  at  night.  Watch  the  long  line 
entering  the  bakery,  standing  at  the  corner, 


88          THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

receiving  the  evening  loaf  or  leaving  the  doors 
laden  with  pastry  and  cake.  Much  of  the  hake- 
shop's  wares  offer  a  soil  as  fertile  for  bacterial 
hosts  as  the  goods  of  the  market  can  afford. 
The  market's  goods  are  commonly  uncooked. 
They  must  pass  through  the  antiseptic  pro- 
cesses of  cooking.  The  bake-shop's  viands  are 
cooked  and  ready  to  be  eaten.  Note  the  cloy- 
ing, sickish  smell  about  the  ordinary  bake-shop 
on  a  summer's  day,  and  observe  the  swarms  of 
flies  striving  for  entrance.  Flies  are  notorious 
carriers  of  disease.  The  bake-shop,  the  source 
of  most  of  the  cooked  food  of  the  community, 
offers  a  problem  distinct  from,  but  no  less 
important  than,  that  of  the  market  or  the 
abattoir. 

The  salesroom  of  the  bakery  may  or  may 
not  be  attractive,  but  the  real  crux  of  the  prob- 
lem does  not  lie  there.  You  will  find  that  in 
the  bake-room,  commonly  a  close  room  situated 
behind  the  shop,  or  perhaps  below  it,  in  a  dim 
cellar.  Strange  to  say,  the  condition  of  the 
bakeries,  with  their  possibilities  of  the  direct 
transmission  of  disease,  has  been  largely  over- 
looked in  the  crusade  that  has  gone  on  dur- 
ing the  last  few  years.  Grave  possibilities  of 
danger  inhere  in  unclean  bake-houses,  heavy 


THE  CITY'S  FOOD  89 

with  fetid  air,  hot  with  the  constant  radiation 
of  the  ovens,  and  fouled  by  the  burning  of 
gas-jets  that  strive  against  the  dusk  at  mid- 
day. Massachusetts  has  done  good  work  in 
clearing  up  the  wretched  bakeries  of  the  slums, 
and  for  this  the  Commonwealth  should  be 
given  credit.  Here  are  two  quotations  from 
the  state  law  on  the  subject  which  are  aimed 
directly  against  certain  of  the  chief  evils  which 
exist  in  this  trade. 

Chapter  75  of  the  Revised  Laws  of  Massa- 
chusetts provides  in  Section  20 :  "  All  build* 
ings  which  are  occupied  as  biscuit,  bread  or 
cake-bakeries  shall  be  provided  with  a  proper 
wash-room  and  water-closets,  having  ventila- 
tion apart  from  the  bake-room  or  rooms ;  and 
no  water-closet,  earth-closet,  privy,  or  ash-pit 
shall  be  in,  or  communicate  directly  with,  the 
bake-room  of  any  bakery."  Section  29  says  : 
"  Furniture  and  utensils  in  bake-rooms  shall 
be  so  arranged  that  they  and  the  floor  may  at 
all  times  be  kept  clean  and  in  good  sanitary 
condition." 

Space  is  precious  in  the  tenements.  Air  and 
light  are  costly.  The  salesroom  shows.  The 
bake-room  is  hidden.  Only  through  municipal 
or  state  control  and  proper  inspection  can  we 


90  THE  HEALTH  OF  THE   CITY 

be  sure  that  the  evils  of  the  bake-shops  are 
avoided.  Nor  should  this  subject  be  closed 
without  reference  to  the  individual  public  spirit 
of  some  of  the  men  engaged  in  the  bakery 
business  on  a  large  scale.  Some  of  them  have 
done  excellent  work  in  this  regard,  and  their 
efforts  should  receive  a  greater  support  from 
the  community.  With  the  exception  of  the 
large  biscuit  or  cracker  bakeries,  the  national 
laws  in  general  have  nothing  to  do  with  these 
food-producers.  Their  trade  is  commonly  car- 
ried on  within  the  confines  of  the  city  which 
they  serve. 

The  sinister  threads  which  mark  the  path- 
way of  the  pathogenic  organisms,  of  the  germs 
of  disease,  run  blackly  through  all  the  discus- 
sions of  those  common  necessities  of  mankind, 
—  air,  water,  and  food.  Ever  at  the  gates, 
they  watch  for  the  chance  opening  which  shall 
give  them  entrance.  Control  of  the  diseased 
employee,  the  tuberculous  patient,  should  not 
be  confined  to  his  relation  to  air,  water,  and 
milk :  every  man  who  hancllss  food-supplies  in 
market  or  abattoir,  every  worker  in  the  bake- 
shops,  should  undergo  constant  and  vigilant 
inspection.  The  danger  of  food  injured  by 
decomposition  may  be  somewhat  less  in  the 


THE  CITY'S  FOOD  91 

bakery  than  in  the  market  or  abattoir,  but  the 
danger  to  the  public  from  adulteration,  substi- 
tution, or  the  transmission  of  disease  is  quite 
as  great. 

Back  through  the  hurrying,  home-bound 
crowds,  into  the  dusk  where  the  lamps  are 
gleaming,  returns  the  city  worker  at  the  close 
of  day.  Whether  the  weariness  of  the  night 
gives  place  to  rest  and  power  in  the  morning 
depends  largely  upon  the  food  that  the  home 
table  provides  ;  and  the  healthfulness  of  that 
food,  gathered  as  it  is  from  many  different 
sources,  must  be  controlled  by  the  individual 
citizen,  in  the  end.  Only  by  the  deterrence  of 
the  knowing  criminal  who  furnishes  impure 
food,  and  by  the  teaching  of  the  ignorant, 
can  general  safety  be  secured.  Nor  is  it  enough 
to  insure  our  own  safety  only.  This  complex 
latter-day  organism,  the  city,  when  injured  in 
one  fibre,  transmits  the  hurt  throughout  its 
frame.  Whether  we  wish  it  or  no,  to  keep  our- 
selves, we  must  be  our  brother's  keeper.  Only 
when  we  strive  to  guard  our  neighbors  as  our- 
selves are  our  own  walls  secure. 


IV 

THE  FOOD  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL 

POWER  is  the  text  of  half  the  industrial  ser- 
mons preached  to-day.  It  is  the  factor  which 
demands  the  conservation  of  our  forests,  our 
rivers,  and  our  other  national  resources.  It  is 
the  strenuously  sought  goal  of  mechanical  en- 
gineer and  of  electrical  engineer,  of  student 
of  hydraulics  and  of  aeronautics.  Scarcely 
a  month  goes  by  without  scientific  journals 
placing  upon  record  the  development  of  new 
water  powers,  — and  all  this  change  of  poten- 
tial energy  into  kinetic  energy  has  to  do  with 
the  inanimate  matter  of  nature ;  with  coal 
burned  to  generate  steam ;  with  water  turning 
busy  mill-wheels;  or  with  gases  exploding  in 
cylinders  and  driving  forward  pistons.  How 
many  manufacturers,  watching  the  long  stream 
of  operatives  pouring  from  the  mills  at  night, 
have  ever  considered  that  the  problem  of  in- 
creasing the  total  efficiency  of  that  hurrying 
crowd  by  the  in  crease  of  the  efficiency  of  each 
individual  might  have  a  personal  application  ? 


THE  FOOD  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL      93 

Many  an  employer  thinks  thousands  a  year 
well  spent  in  buying  good  fuel  instead  of  bad, 
in  keeping  his  machines  at  the  maximum  de- 
gree of  efficiency  by  repair  and  replacement. 
Many  such  a  man  has  never  realized  that 
like  care,  as  regards  the  substance  that  fur- 
nishes both  fuel  and  repair  to  his  workman, 
might  bring  an  efficiency  to  his  factory,  an 
increase  of  power  to  his  force,  which  would 
make  his  other  saving  seem  trifling  by  com- 
parison. 

The  study  of  food  in  its  relation  to  the  effi- 
ciency of  man  as  an  individual  has  long  been 
recognized  by  the  occasional  student.  With 
one  remarkable  exception,  the  consideration  of 
food  in  its  relation  to  masses  of  people,  to  the 
general  upbuilding  of  the  state,  is  of  compara- 
tively recent  growth.  And  to-day,  much  of  the 
discussion  along  this  line  is  based  on  results 
rather  than  upon  causes.  The  body  is  an  or- 
ganization of  many  chemical  compounds  sub- 
ject to  nature's  immutable  laws.  The  foods 
which  repair  lost  tissue  or  provide  heat  and 
power  are  chemical  compounds  as  well.  Since 
all  food  problems  concern  both  body  and  foods, 
some  mention  of  the  composition  of  the  foods 
and  some  review  of  what  has  been  happily 


94  THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

termed  "the  human  mechanism"  may  not  be 
amiss.  We  shall  turn  from  that  review  to  con- 
sider certain  problems  of  food  which  closely 
affect  the  city-dweller. 

The  wide  discussion  of  diet  which  has 
sprung  up  in  recent  years  is  by  no  means  set- 
tled. Specialized  regimes,  guaranteed  to  pro- 
cure immediate  efficiency,  have  been  brought 
forth  by  the  score.  Some  have  persisted. 
Many  have  died.  It  is  well  to  pause  a  little 
and  consider  some  of  the  results  already  ob- 
tained, to  see  if  investigation  has  given  us 
any  clue  as  to  the  kind  of  diet  which  will  do 
most  for  man. 

We  may  state  our  first  problem  thus  :  Can 
science  propose  any  diet  which  will  offer 
greater  efficiency  than  a  varied  three  meals  a 
day?  There  can  be  little  doubt  in  the  mind 
of  one  who  knows  anything  of  the  kitchens 
of  the  tenement  houses,  that  it  is  hard  indeed 
to  insure  proper  home  food  for  the  workman, 
his  wife,  and  his  child.  The  second  problem 
before  us,  therefore,  is :  What  can  be  done  to 
stop  the  tremendous  waste  of  personal  effi- 
ciency caused  by  the  poor  food  provided  in 
the  home?  The  third  problem  must  deal  with 
the  possibility  of  collective  instead  of  indi- 


THE  FOOD  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL      95 

vidual  effort.  It  may  be  stated  thus :  Can  cor- 
porations or  associations,  dealing  with  masses 
instead  of  individuals,  give  impetus  to  the 
movement  for  proper  food? 

On  the  shelves  of  one  of  our  museums  re- 
posed for  years  a  series  of  cubes  and  cylin- 
ders supposed  to  represent  the  proportions  in 
which  the  various  elements  occur  in  the  body 
of  a  human  being  of  average  size.  I  can  feel 
to-day  the  strange  and  somewhat  awful  fasci- 
nation by  which  those  longer  cubes,  marked 
Ditrogen,  oxygen,  carbon,  and  hydrogen,  those 
shorter  cubes,  marked  phosphorus,  sulphur, 
chlorine,  iodine,  sodium,  potassium,  calcium, 
magnesium,  and  iron,  dragged  one  small  boy's 
footsteps  to  their  solemn  shelf  despite  the 
attractions  of  full-rigged  models  of  Chinese 
junks  and  armored  Indian  warriors.  Those 
cubes  showed  the  essential  parts  of  the  body's 
frame,  the  lifeless  elements  which,  by  the  magic 
of  living  processes,  build  up  the  sentient  organ- 
ism, man.  Since  man  is  compounded  of  these 
elements,  his  food,  from  which  alone  can  come 
the  structure  of  the  body,  must  be  made  up 
of  these  same  substances. 

The  meal  which  provided  power  for  your 
morning  labor  or  evening  pleasure,  however 


96  THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

apparently  diversified  it  may  have  seemed, 
was  wholly  composed  of  five  simple  classes  of 
nutrients,  or  substances  which  nourish  the 
body.  These  nutrients  are  built  up  from  the 
elements  just  given.  Though  some  students 
divide  the  foods  into  more  divisions,  the  five 
classes  of  nutrients  which  we  shall  consider  are 
proteids,  carbohydrates,  fats,  inorganic  salts, 
and  water.  Each  does  its  special  part,  some 
by  producing  tissue  or  a  form  of  energy,  some 
by  aiding  the  processes  by  which  other  mem- 
bers of  the  nutrients  are  made  available.  Stat- 
ing a  few  of  the  common  foods  in  rough  per- 
centages of  these  nutrients,  we  find  that  bread 
has  37%  of  water,  8%  of  proteid,  50%  of  car- 
bohydrates, 1%  of  fats,  and  2%  of  salts  ;  milk 
has  86%  of  water,  4%  of  proteid,  5%  of  car- 
bohydrates, 4%  of  fat,  and  0.8%  of  salts ;  lean 
beef  contains  72%  of  water,  19%  of  proteid, 
3%  of  fats,  and  1%  of  salts ;  while  peas  con- 
tain 15%  of  water,  23%  of  proteid,  57%  of 
carbohydrates,  2%  of  fats,  and  2%  of  salts. 
Whether  found  in  bread  or  cheese,  meat  or 
lettuce,  each  individual  of  these  classes  acts 
on  the  body  in  very  much  the  same  way,  and 
the  relation  of  food  to  the  efficiency  of  the 
individual  must  be  considered  in  terms  of 


THE  FOOD  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL      97 

these  basic  groups  rather  than  in  terms  of  the 
foods  made  up  by  them.  If  we  eat  meat,  fish, 
or  eggs,  we  are  increasing  our  proteid  ration. 
If  we  eat  bread,  cereals,  vegetables,  or  fruit, 
we  are  increasing  our  carbohydrates.  If  we 
increase  our  amounts  of  butter  or  olive-oil,  we 
are  adding  fats. 

Like  most  important  modern  businesses,  the 
body  is  a  well-equipped  manufacturing  plant, 
and  many  factors  enter  into  its  life.  Every 
productive  factory  must  be  kept  in  efficient 
condition  by  repair.  Proteids  supply  repair- 
stuff  to  the  body.  In  the  factory  a  power-plant 
must  supply  the  energy  which  runs  the  ma- 
chines, and  a  heating-plant  is  needed  to  warm 
the  rooms  and  give  heat  for  various  processes. 
Carbohydrates  and  fats,  burning  in  the  oxygen 
drawn  in  through  the  lungs,  supply  the  body 
with  such  energy  and  heat,  while  a  part  of  the 
proteids,  not  used  for  repair,  does  some  share 
of  this  work.  A  thorough  supply  of  water  for 
washing,  cleansing,  and  preparing  the  mate- 
rials used  is  commonly  required  in  both  busi- 
nesses. A  large  up-to-date  establishment  would 
certainly  have  an  interior  railway  to  carry 
fuel,  raw  materials,  and  completed  products 
from  one  point  to  another.  The  circulating 


98          THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

blood  serves  as  an  interior  railroad,  which  car- 
ries fuel,  waste-supplies,  and  finished  goods 
through  the  whole  human  plant.  In  our  study 
of  the  nutrients,  water  and  mineral  salts,  essen- 
tial as  they  are,  need  but1  little  consideration. 
It  is  the  three  other  classes  that  demand  our 
attention. 

The  carbohydrates  and  the  fats  have  a  mis- 
sion besides  their  chief  one  of  the  provision 
of  energy.  They  are  the  storehouse  employees. 
It  is  a  part  of  their  duty  to  see  that  reserve 
supplies  of  food  are  put  away  in  the  body- 
storehouses,  in  sufficient  quantity  to  carry  the 
body  along  when  food  is  scarce  or  when  the 
machinery  is  temporarily  out  of  order  and  in- 
capable of  use.  The  exhaustion  of  those  sup- 
plies during  illness,  as  exhibited  in  the  shrunken 
frame  of  the  convalescent,  is  a  common  testi- 
mony to  this  employment.  When  more  of  the 
combustible  compounds  of  this  class  are  taken 
than  are  needed  for  immediate  use,  a  part  of 
the  surplus  is  turned  into  fat  and  stored  away 
in  the  body  against  time  of  need.  Essential 
as  such  storage  was  when  prehistoric  man, 
having  breakfasted,  knew  not  where  his  din- 
ner roamed  the  forest,  to-day  that  overworked 
machinery  of  supply  too  often  produces  the 


THE  FOOD  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL      99 

disease  of  the  well-filled  table  and  the  seden- 
tary life,  obesity. 

The  proteids  belong  to  the  repair  staff.  They 
are  those  nutrients  which  serve  to  repair  the 
living  moving  portions  of  our  body  ;  like  mus- 
cles and  glands.  It  is  this  repairing  power 
which  differentiates  them  from  the  more  strictly 
fuel-foods.  Every  part  of  the  living  tissue 
which  composes  our  mechanisms  is  made  up 
of  cells,  living  masses  of  various  size,  each  of 
which  is  complete  in  itself.  These  cells  are 
themselves  of  proteid  structure,  and  the  nutri- 
ent proteids  are  the  chosen  foods  to  which  are 
intrusted  the  important  task  of  caring  for  the 
cells,  of  building  them  up  and  keeping  them 
in  condition.  Two  elements  found  in  the  cell, 
nitrogen  and  sulphur,  are  found  only  in,  and 
can  be  supplied  only  by,  proteid.  No  part  of 
the  problem  is  more  important  to  us  than  a 
knowledge  of  proteid  demands.  Life  is  a  con- 
stant change  of  form,  an  incessant  building 
up  and  breaking  down,  and  the  disintegration 
of  the  cell,  the  loss  of  proteid  in  the  human 
body,  never  ceases.  In  sickness  and  in  health, 
sleeping  or  waking,  working  or  resting,  the 
nitrogen  and  sulphur  of  the  cells  is  breaking 
down  and  changing  from  living  active  sub- 


100         THE  HEALTH   OF  THE  CITY 

stances  to  dead  wastes  ready  for  removal.  A 
constant  supply  of  proteid  in  one  form  or  an- 
other must  be  received,  or  life  stops  as  surely  as 
the  mill  shuts  down  when  its  worn-out  wheels 
and  pulleys,  left  unrepaired,  slow  down  for  the 
last  time  and  stop,  incapable  of  longer  trans- 
mitting power. 

From  the  facts  already  stated  we  must  be- 
lieve that  some  proteid  is  necessary  to  life.  We 
have  by  no  means  settled  how  much  proteid 
is  required  for  man's  greatest  efficiency.  That 
problem  has  long  been  a  vexing  one.  The  whole 
question  of  how  often  meat  and  fish  shall 
appear  in  the  diet  is  involved  in  its  answer. 
It  divides  into  the  perils  of  too  much  and  too 
little,  and  the  man  who  wishes  to  learn  what 
to  eat  himself,  or  what  to  advise  for  others,  is 
bound  to  be  perplexed.  Carl  Voit  and  his  fol- 
lowers form  the  school  which  believes  in  a  com- 
paratively large  proportion  of  proteid  or  nitro- 
genous food.  This  is  the  diet  which  most  nearly 
corresponds  to  that  of  the  average  person. 
These  students  believe  in  general  that  a  man 
should  take  from  110  to  130  grammes  of  pro- 
teid a  day,  —  a  fairly  generous  meat  diet.  Re- 
membering that  all  such  figures  are  merely  ap- 
proximations, and  that  physical  condition,  age, 


THE  FOOD   OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL    101 

occupation,  and  sex  are  all  factors  which  affect 
quantity  in  diet,  we  may  try  to  translate  that 
requirement  into  terms  of  two  or  three  foods. 
If  a  man  bought  about  a  pound  and  a  half  of 
lamb,  of  sirloin  steak,  or  of  halibut,  ate  the 
edible  portions,  and  took  nothing  else  contain- 
ing proteid  all  day,  he  would  approach  Voit's 
ratio.  Sirloin  steak  contains  16.5%  of  proteid. 
Leg  of  lamb  contains  15.9%.  Halibut  con- 
tains 15.3%.  Of  course,  in  practice  much  of 
the  proteid  taken  in  by  any  individual  comes 
from  the  bread,  milk,  vegetables,  etc.,  of  the 
diet.  It  is  almost  never  provided  wholly  by  the 
meat.  A  middle  course  as  regards  proteid  is 
held  by  Armand  Gautier  and  others,  who  would 
cut  our  meat  diet  by  perhaps  a  third,  and  limit 
us  to  80  grammes.  Probably  the  lowest  diet 
in  point  of  nitrogen  of  those  not  strictly  vege- 
tarian is  that  proposed  by  Professor  Chittenden 
of  Yale  in  the  historic  experiments  published 
in  his  book  on  the  "  Physiological  Economy 
of  Nutrition."  A  brief  resume  of  that  research 
follows. 

Professor  Chittenden  divided  the  subjects 
of  his  experiments  into  three  general  divisions. 
The  first  was  made  up  of  five  men  of  varying 
ages  connected  with  Yale  University  as  pro- 


102         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

fessors  and  instructors.  These  teachers  repre- 
sented the  man  of  somewhat  sedentary  life, 
the  brain-worker  rather  than  the  physical 
worker.  The  second  group  was  a  squad  of 
thirteen  men  from  the  Hospital  Corps  of  the 
army,  who  took  moderate  daily  exercise  in 
the  gymnasium  and  represented  the  man  who 
combines  both  physical  and  mental  labor,  — 
the  skilled  worker,  for  example.  The  third 
division  was  composed  of  students,  all  Yale 
athletes,  who  represented  the  man  taking  se- 
vere and  prolonged  physical  labor. 

Each  of  the  groups  lived  for  some  months 
under  constant  observation.  Each  passed  from 
the  common  meat  diet  of  an  ordinary  man, 
110  to  130  grammes  of  proteid  per  day,  to  an 
extremely  low  meat  diet,  generally  less  than 
half  the  usual  amount ;  and  each  was  not  only 
able  to  do  a  full  quota  of  labor  on  the  limited 
amount  of  proteid  which  he  consumed,  but 
was  even  able  to  accomplish  more  work  and 
keep  in  better  health  than  had  formerly  been 
the  case.  The  long  research  ended  with  a  firm 
conviction  in  the  mind  of  the  experimenter 
that  the  subjects  of  the  experiment  came  into 
"nitrogenous  equilibrium"  (we  shall  consider 
that  phrase  later),  and  maintained  a  thor- 


THE  FOOD   OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL    103 

oughly  healthy  condition  of  body  and  mind, 
with  about  one  half  the  proteid  that  the  ordi- 
nary individual  uses  in  his  diet.  Professor 
Chittenden  believes  that  on  this  lower  diet 
the  body  increases  in  efficiency  and  undergoes 
less  strain,  while  a  very  large  saving  in  the 
amount  of  money  spent  for  food  is  possible. 

Remarkable  as  were  the  results  of  that 
distinguished  believer  in  a  greatly  reduced 
intake  of  proteid,  with  its  greatly  lessened 
diet  of  meat,  the  great  hosts  of  individuals 
who  form  the  race  have,  through  centuries  o/ 
experimental  evidence,  gained  an  experience 
and  formed  a  research  on  a  vastly  greater 
scale,  where  the  inaccuracies  of  observation 
seem  more  than  counterbalanced  by  the  mil- 
lions who  have  performed  the  experiment. 
Occidental  man  has  always  taken  a  moder- 
ate meat  diet  when  he  could  get  it ;  and 
the  change  from  a  narrower  vegetarian  to  a 
broader  meat  diet  has  always  been  a  change 
accompanying  a  higher  standard  of  living. 
The  limited  proteid  of  the  peasant  has  never 
seemed  to  give  greater  mental  or  physical 
vigor  than  the  larger  proteid  diet  of  his  lord. 
One  point  stands  saliently  forth  throughout 
every  experiment  along  this  line.  Whatever 


104         THE  HEALTH   OF  THE   CITY 

may  be  our  judgment  of  the  advisability  of 
high  or  low  proteid,  some  proteid  is  neces- 
sary. In  the  balanced  ration  lies  safety,  in  the 
proper  mixing  of  meat  and  bread  and  vege- 
tables, in  the  acquiring  of  sufficient  proteid 
to  support  "nitrogenous  equilibrium."  The 
nitrogen  balance  is  one  of  the  keynotes  of 
modern  scientific  feeding.  Generally  speak- 
ing, this  nitrogen  balance  means  that  the 
amount  of  nitrogen  taken  in  as  proteid  in 
food  equals  the  amount  of  nitrogen  given  off 
as  waste.  According  to  this  theory,  a  man  at 
full  labor  and  in  good  health,  neither  gaining 
nor  losing  in  weight,  breaks  down  on  an  aver- 
age as  much  of  the  nitrogen-bearing  proteid 
of  his  cells,  in  doing  his  work,  as  he  puts  in 
in  the  form  of  the  proteid  of  his  food.  A  man 
must  take  a  sufficient  amount  of  proteid  to 
take  care  of  his  repair-work,  or  he  will  be 
infringing  on  his  body-capital.  The  fats  and 
carbohydrates  consumed  do  not  balance  as 
does  the  proteid,  since,  as  we  have  seen,  that 
part  of  these  nutrients  which  is  not  used  im- 
mediately for  heat  and  power  is  largely  stored 
in  the  shape  of  fat. 

In  the  necessity  for  a  nitrogen  balance  we 
find  man  once  more  coming  under  the  con- 


THE  FOOD  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL    105 

trol  of  one  of  those  mighty  laws  that  under- 
lie the  universe  and  all  its  manifestations,  the 
law  of  the  conservation  of  energy.  When  man 
absorbs  sufficient  nitrogen  for  the  nitrogen 
balance,  when  he  preserves  the  ratio  of  other 
foods  which  will  support  that  nitrogen  and 
keep  the  body  organs  in  action,  he  possesses 
the  necessary  energy  for  his  labors.  If  he 
takes  too  little  proteid,  he  uses  the  very  sub- 
stance of  his  body  in  carrying  out  his  daily 
tasks.  If  he  takes  too  much,  the  elimination 
of  the  wastes,  which  increase  as  his  proteid 
increases,  becomes  more  than  his  body  can 
handle,  and  he  overloads  his  machine,  break- 
ing down  the  organs. 

The  relation  of  this  last  statement  to  our 
modern  city  life  is  close.  As  the  individualis- 
tic city  home  fades  further  and  further  from 
our  ken,  the  tribe  of  hotel-dwellers  develops 
more  and  more  digestive  difficulties  due  to 
overloaded  organs.  The  American  who  eats 
eggs  or  chops  for  breakfast,  steak  at  noon, 
and  fish,  meat,  or  game  at  night  often  stores 
up  trouble  for  himself.  Carbohydrates,  whose 
removal  from  the  body  is  comparatively  sim- 
ple, contain  carbon  and  hydrogen,  which  burn 
to  the  gases,  carbon  dioxide,  and  water.  The 


106         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

body  mechanism  can  safely  carry  no  great 
excess  of  these ;  but  the  proteids  are  worse, 
for  they  break  down  into  probably  delete- 
rious compounds,  whose  elimination  is  much 
more  difficult.  The  average  business  man  and 
his  wife  are  over-fond  of  proteid  foods,  from 
whose  elimination  may  come  serious  diges- 
tive difficulties.  The  school  which  follows 
Mr.  Fletcher  in  his  belief  that  extremely  com- 
plete and  thorough  mastication  is  one  way  out 
of  the  difficulty,  may  owe  no  small  portion 
of  the  success  they  have  attained  to  the  fact 
that,  owing  to  the  limitations  of  time,  its 
members  are  unable  to  consume  an  excessive 
amount  of  proteid  in  a  given  period.  In  a  bal- 
anced ration,  which  provides  sufficient  fat  and 
carbohydrate  for  heat  and  power  and  suffi- 
cient proteid  for  repair,  lies  the  only  safety. 

Excepting  among  the  poor,  the  average  man 
is  more  in  danger  of  over-feeding  proteids 
than  carbohydrates,  but  there  is  one  instance 
of  the  latter  condition  which  should  not  be 
overlooked.  This  danger  comes  from  the  per- 
sistent crusade  in  favor  of  cereal  products.  It 
illustrates  the  harm  which  may  come  from  a 
one-sided  food  wrongly  advertised.  If  you 
turn  over  the  pages  of  the  first  advertising 


THE  FOOD  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL    107 

section  which  reaches  your  hand,  you  will  see 
that  a  large  percentage  of  the  foods  advertised 
there  are  cereals.  Cereals  are  excellent  and 
valuable  foods.  It  is  entirely  right  and  proper 
to  advertise  them.  Their  advertisement  be- 
comes questionable  only  when  the  greater  part 
of  the  effort  made  is  to  impress  on  the  buying 
public  the  idea  that  these  foods,  and  these 
foods  only,  provide  the  ideal  diet.  A  break- 
fast from  some  of  them  is  claimed  to  contain 
exactly  the  ingredients  needed  for  strength 
and  energy,  while  a  saucer  or  two  at  luncheon 
and  a  pudding  made  of  the  same  substance 
for  dinner  will,  they  consider,  produce  a  har- 
mony of  effort  of  body  and  brain  unattainable 
in  any  other  way. 

The  follower  of  those  glowing  statements 
takes  for  his  medical  counselor  and  guide  the 
press-agent  of  the  advertised  food,  the  man 
who  is  employed  to  sell  as  much  as  possible 
of  the  product  he  is  pushing.  The  man  who 
blindly  follows  the  press  agent's  directions  is 
taking  a  grave  chance.  If  our  present  beliefs  in 
dietetics  point  to  one  thing  more  than  to  an- 
other, it  is  to  the  necessity  of  keeping  up  nitro- 
genous equilibrium.  If  that  is  not  kept  at  a 
level  by  the  feeding  of  proteids,  the  body  must 


108         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

draw  upon  its  own  structure  to  do  its  daily 
tasks,  —  an  action  which  weakens  its  frame. 
The  cereals  are  chiefly  carbohydrates.  Their 
proportion  of  proteid  is  practically  never  suf- 
ficiently high  to  give  a  balanced  ration.  All  of 
them  contain  some  proteid;  but  in  order  to 
obtain  this  in  sufficient  amount  for  daily  use, 
the  eater  of  cereals  is  obliged  to  overload  his 
digestive  organs  with  so  great  a  percentage 
of  other  nutrients  that  he  passes  beyond  the 
safety-point  and  fills  himself  to  repletion. 
The  steel  bridge  which  bears  a  load  beyond 
its  power  will  no  more  surely  break  than  will 
the  delicate  organs  of  the  human  mechanism 
when  overloads  of  any  single  type  of  food  are 
constantly  inflicted  upon  them. 

In  the  preceding  discussion  may  be  found 
some  explanation  of  the  thousand  questions 
of  diet  raised  in  the  present  day.  It  is  worse 
than  the  "Battle  of  the  Books."  On  the  one 
hand  vegetarianism,  on  the  other  meat  diet. 
The  sides  of  the  electric  car  beseech  us  to  buy 
food  to  nourish  brain,  to  produce  greater 
powers  of  memory,  of  concentration,  of  initia- 
tive, or  of  thought.  The  magazines  are  filled 
with  pictures  of  magnificently  formed  athletes 
accomplishing  marvelous  results  by  their  in- 


THE  FOOD  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL    109 

dulgence  in  certain  picked  foods.  It  is  no 
wonder  that  the  weary  brain-worker  of  the 
city,  hoping  for  greater  force,  turns  to  foods 
which  promise  immediate  and  special  results, 
—  that  he  tries  "brain  foods"  or  "muscle 
nutrients." 

Such  search  is  vain.  Thorough  as  has  been 
the  study  of  foods  in  the  last  few  years,  and 
carefully  as  the  question  has  been  considered, 
there  is  no  established  ground  for  belief  that 
any  particular  food  can  be  found  which  will 
have  any  special  effect  on  any  part  of  the 
body.  So  far  as  we  can  tell,  the  interior  rail- 
way of  the  human  factory,  the  blood,  takes 
the  same  raw  materials  to  the  cells  of  the  brain 
and  the  cells  of  the  hand.  This  statement  must 
not  be  taken  to  mean,  however,  that  a  diet 
limited  to  but  a  few  types  of  nutrients  is  as 
good  a  body-builder  as  one  which  gives  a 
wider  choice.  The  comparatively  recent  work 
of  Osborne  and  Abderhalden  has  shown  what 
wide  differences  can  exist  with  regard  to  the 
different  forms  of  proteid  found  in  various 
nitrogenous  foods. 

Reviewing  the  whole  body  of  evidence,  the 
present  writer  is  forced  to  the  conclusion  that 
there  is  no  convincing  proof  that  the  average 


110         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

diet  of  centuries  past  should  be  radically 
changed.  Most  of  the  topics  treated  in  this 
book  are  the  results  of  unnatural  conditions. 
Overcrowding,  bad  air  and  food  are  the  pro- 
ducts of  the  congestive  rush  to  the  cities. 
Many,  perhaps  most,  of  the  city's  problems  are 
products  of  recent  date.  The  period  of  experi- 
mentation with  these  problems  has  been  com- 
paratively short.  The  period  of  man's  experi- 
mentation with  food  reaches  back  to  the 
cloudiest  vistas  of  time.  In  most  of  the  evil 
conditions  of  the  city  we  can  see  the  evil  forces 
actively  at  work.  Here  we  are  forced  to  turn 
somewhat  to  speculative  philosophy.  Some 
things  have  been  established.  It  has  been 
reasonably  established  that  efficiency  cannot 
be  obtained  by  any  royal  road  of  overloading 
or  of  underfeeding.  The  rich,  or  those  in  more 
moderate  circumstances,  may  overload.  The 
poor,  with  the  present  prohibitive  prices,  are 
but  too  likely  to  underfeed.  No  accepted  evi- 
dence exists  that  any  specialized  diet  can  give 
any  more  power  to  muscle  than  to  brain,  or  to 
brain  than  to  muscle.  After  a  violent  agitation 
of  the  pendulum  in  different  directions,  we  are 
coming  back  to  a  greater  belief  in  unspoiled 
appetite  than  ever  before.  We  are  coming  to 


THE  FOOD   OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL    111 

recognize  that  the  reasonable  variation  of  the 
ordinary  table,  which  provides  its  due  amount 
of  proteid,  carbohydrate,  and  fat,  is  not  far 
from  right.  There  is  good  experimental  evi- 
dence to  show  that  a  diet  which  gains  its  neces- 
sary nitrogen  from  fish,  flesh,  and  fowl,  is  wise. 

Starting  our  next  division  of  the  subject 
with  the  hypothesis  that  a  varied,  reasonably 
plentiful  diet  is  the  one  which  will  produce 
the  greatest  efficiency,  the  hardest  question  is 
before  us.  How  can  we  supply  the  great  mass 
of  the  city-dwellers  with  such  a  diet,  especially 
with  such  a  diet  properly  cooked  ?  Is  there  any- 
thing which  can  be  done  to  provide,  not  only 
the  food  itself,  but  also  the  training  which 
shall  make  the  provision  of  such  food  a  con- 
stantly increasing  factor  in  the  total  increase 
of  efficiency  of  the  city?  There  is  no  small 
amount  of  sociology  involved  in  the  answer. 

The  working-man's  choice  of  food  in  these 
days  when  prices  climb  skyward  is  difficult  in 
the  extreme.  It  is  made  much  worse  by  the 
tradition  of  the  American  table.  The  work- 
man of  a  hundred  years  ago  generally  had  his 
isolated  house  and  garden.  His  primary  occu- 
pation was  likely  to  be  husbandry,  his  second- 
ary, manufacturing.  As  Whittier's  father,  in 


112         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

the  long  winter  evenings,  is  said  to  have  sat 
making  shoes  in  his  own  house,  surrounded  and 
assisted  by  his  family,  so  the  average  workman 
of  that  time  preserved,  like  him,  individualism 
and  self-respecting  freedom  in  his  industry. 
The  small  garden  of  the  worker  supplied  vege- 
tables to  the  family  from  soil  tilled  by  the 
owner's  hands;  and  even  yet  such  a  mixture 
of  farmer  and  artisan  exists  in  many  a  coun- 
try manufacturing  town.  To  these  people  the 
wealth  given  back  by  the  soil  and  the  com- 
paratively low  cost  of  the  meats  that  were 
brought  by  the  butcher's  white  cart  to  the 
door,  resulted  in  a  lavish  table.  When  walls 
of  brick  prisoned  the  worker  and  laid  waste 
his  garden,  the  tradition  of  the  earlier  table 
persisted.  In  whatever  way  the  family  stinted 
themselves,  the  table  was  the  last  thing  to  be 
affected.  If  the  keeping  up  of  an  expensive 
table  was  the  only  way  for  a  family  to  obtain 
sufficient  nutrition,  no  question  could  be  raised. 
But  it  is  not.  Knowledge  of  food-values  and 
proper  methods  of  cooking  could  provide  quite 
as  great  nutrition  at  far  less  cost.  To  many 
a  worker's  wife  a  proper  table  long  meant,  and 
in  far  too  many  cases  means  to-day,  expensive 
meats,  prepared  cereals,  and  even  out-of-season 


THE  FOOD  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL    113 

delicacies.  Sometimes  the  money  for  the  meal 
is  almost  wholly  spent  on  meat,  with  all  the 
accompanying  ills  of  an  unbalanced  diet.  To 
correct  that  especial  evil  there  is  one  remedy, 
— training  in  marketing. 

Even  where  the  raw  food  is  clean  and 
nourishing,  cooking  can  ruin  its  potentialities 
of  good.  The  wife  of  the  mill-worker  is  ex- 
tremely likely  to  have  been  a  mill-worker  her- 
self. The  brief  schooling  of  her  youth  ended 
when  she  reached  the  minimum  age  of  exemp- 
tion from  school.  Sometimes  it  scarcely  began, 
for  child-labor  still  eats  the  strength  and  sinew 
from  the  republic.  Too  often  the  mill-girl 
leaves  the  mill  to  be  married,  returns  there  till 
her  child  is  born,  and  then,  despite  the  best 
intentions  in  the  world,  becomes  a  mockery  to 
the  name  of  home-keeper.  As  she  is  utterly 
untrained  in  the  science  of  buying  food,  the 
household  supplies  are  poorly  chosen,  and  cost 
far  more  than  her  husband's  scanty  purse  can 
afford.  As  she  is  wholly  unacquainted  with 
cooking,  the  food  which  she  provides  too  often 
swims  in  grease,  or  is  left  half -raw.  Cooking 
is  one  of  the  essential  steps  in  the  provision 
and  utilization  of  the  body-fuel.  The  organs 
of  digestion  will  not  act  upon  many  of  the 


114         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

foods  except  when  they  are  cooked.  Many  a 
man  starts  to  work  in  the  morning  in  a  state 
of  actual  starvation,  because  he  has  been  un- 
able to  assimilate  the  food  which  his  untrained 
wife  has  prepared  for  him. 

The  worker  in  such  a  condition  may  read- 
ily prove  more  of  a  loss  to  his  employer  than 
would  be  occasioned  by  his  mere  personal  loss 
of  efficiency.  The  average  workman  to-day  is 
employed  in  doing  a  minor  detail  of  some 
expensive  operation.  He  cares  for  one  single 
action  of  a  complicated  machine.  He  lays  the 
single  rail  that  bears  the  train.  There  is  a 
grave  possibility  that  the  bodily  ills,  which  fol- 
low insufficient  nutriment,  may  cost  money 
and  lives.  The  tendency  to  drunkenness  among 
the  proletariat  comes  in  many  a  case  from  a 
desire  to  obtain  quick  energy  not  supplied  by 
proper  food,  or  from  a  wish  to  deaden  the 
pangs  of  that  frightful  disease,  the  indigestion 
of  the  poor. 

More  than  one  factor  determines  the  effi- 
ciency of  the  workman,  the  living  mint  of  the 
city.  Some  of  these  have  been  stated  elsewhere. 
One  we  may  state  here.  Back  of  campaigns  of 
education  or  socialistic  propaganda  stands  the 
necessity  of  training  the  wife  of  the  worker 


THE  FOOD  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL    115 

in  choice  of  foods  and  in  cooking.  The  train- 
ing of  schoolgirl  or  woman  in  household  arts 
is  more  than  an  uplift  to  the  immediate  pre- 
sent :  it  is  the  way  of  safeguarding  the  future. 
The  workman's  wife,  untrained  herself,  can- 
not educate  her  daughter. 

We  can  go  far  beyond  any  single  class.  The 
women  of  America  of  the  present  generation 
are,  as  a  whole,  untrained  in  the  one  vocation 
by  which  they  can  give  the  greatest  efficiency, 
—  the  vocation  of  home-keeping.  They  are 
especially  deficient  in  the  most  important  art 
in  that  vocation,  —  the  art  of  cookery.  We  are 
escaping  from  that  well-worn  myth  which  still 
declares  that  the  only  place  to  train  the  man  is 
in  the  workshop,  to  train  the  woman  is  in  the 
home.  Half  a  century  ago  we  were  a  nation  of 
individual  homes,  and  could  show  great  num- 
bers even  of  city  housewives  skilled  in  house- 
hold arts.  To-day  it  is  the  exceptional  city 
girl  who  has  the  opportunity  at  home  to  ob- 
tain more  than  a  fragmentary  training  in  the 
one  profession  above  all  others  which  she  is- 
likely  to  pursue.  The  new  vocational  school, 
which  trains  girls  to  cook,  to  understand  the 
choice  of  foods,  and  to  unravel  some  of  the 
thousand  problems  of  household  economics, 


116         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

is  doing  a  work  heretofore  omitted,  at  a  tre- 
mendous cost,  from  the  scheme  of  education. 
Conferences  on  the  industrial  training  of 
woman,  the  establishment  of  new  industrial 
schools,  the  enlargement  of  old  curriculums  to 
include  instruction  of  an  industrial  character, 
all  show  a  striving  unrest  which  will  inevitably 
pierce  the  clouds  which  hang  over  any  new  ed- 
ucational movement.  As  some  one  has  wisely 
said  :  "  Systems  of  education,  conceived  hun- 
dreds of  years  ago  by  celibate  monks  for  the 
training  of  men,  will  not  suffice  for  the  training 
of  the  wives  and  mothers  of  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury." In  that  Utopian  day  when  the  city  recog- 
nizes that  money  spent  in  teaching  its  girls  the 
arts  of  the  home  brings  back  direct  dividends 
in  the  efficiency  of  the  men  who  are  its  work- 
ers, we  shall  find  a  whole  series  of  schools, 
fitted  to  occupy  certain  definite  places  in  the  up- 
lifting forces  of  the  community.  Each  of  these 
may  be  found,  at  least  in  its  beginnings,  to-day. 
Some  of  the  women's  colleges  are  already  train- 
ing teachers  and  social  workers,  who  are  to  be 
missionaries  in  the  field  of  true  domestic  re- 
form. Here  and  there  may  be  found  secondary 
schools  which  are  teaching  womankind  to  bring 
homes  into  being  where  skill  of  brain  joined  to 


THE  FOOD  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL    117 

skill  of  hand  may  send  forth  well-nourished, 
efficient  men  and  women  into  the  battle  of  life. 
Occasional  trade-schools  are  meeting  the  needs 
of  those  girls  who  must  earn,  and  whose  fami- 
lies are  unable  to  support  them  through  sec- 
ondary schools.  Few  of  the  trade  schools  pro- 
per limit  themselves  to  training  for  a  definite 
trade.  In  most  of  them  the  girl  has  such  in- 
struction in  domestic  matters  as  enables  her  to 
care  for  her  own  home  and  cook  her  own  food, 
—  great  aids  to  healthy,  pleasurable  existence. 
Such  education  gives  permanent  assets  to 
every  pupil,  for  these  arts  are  of  value  to  any 
woman,  both  during  her  wage-earning  life  and 
when  she  is  laying  the  foundations  for  happy 
family  relations  after  her  direct  wage-earning 
existence  is  over. 

One  great  hope  of  those  who  look  for  the 
endurance  and  success  of  our  republic  lies  in 
the  power  of  the  nation  to  assimilate  vast 
hordes  of  immigrants  by  means  of  conscious 
and  unconscious  education.  What  type  of  con- 
scious education  could  do  more  than  voca- 
tional schools  to  train  the  immigrating,  illit- 
erate woman  in  the  possibility  of  using  the 
opportunities  about  her?  Our  modern  hurry 
tends  to  break  down  the  women  quite  as  much 


118         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

as  the  men  for  whose  domestic  welfare  they 
are  responsible.  The  woman-worker  who,  be- 
cause of  her  ignorance,  subsists  on  tea  and 
toast,  who  becomes  as  much  a  slave  to  her 
coffee  as  any  man  to  his  dram,  as  well  as  the 
woman  who,  because  of  ignorance,  lives  in 
constant  terror  of  her  servant's  departure,  will 
disappear  before  the  oncoming  knowledge  of 
the  new  training.  Amazing  as  are  the  num- 
bers of  women  employed  in  a  thousand  varied 
occupations,  those  employed  as  keepers  of 
the  house  and  of  the  home  far  outshadow  and, 
so  far  as  human  foresight  can  foresee,  must 
always  outshadow,  all  the  rest.  The  efficiency 
which  the  foods  of  the  city  can  give,  must 
spring,  in  the  last  analysis,  from  the  power  of 
woman. 

The  municipality  may  do  much  in  provid- 
ing a  training  for  women  which  shall  raise 
the  home-standards  of  food ;  but  that,  at  best, 
is  a  long  process.  It  is  entirely  possible  that 
employers  of  labor  can  do  more  immediate 
good  of  the  kind  that  produces  immediate 
returns,  by  considering  the  opportunities  for 
increased  efficiency  that  are  open  to  commu- 
nity-kitchens. The  provision  of  model  factory- 
luncheons  is  a  very  different  matter  from  the 


THE  FOOD  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL    119 

provision  of  corporation-owned  houses.  The 
factory-luncheon  is  an  open  competitive  busi- 
ness, which  attracts  only  because  it  gives 
greater  value  for  the  same  money  than  the 
employee  can  get  elsewhere.  It  may  be  made 
of  great  value  both  as  a  source  of  energy  and  as 
a  model.  It  is  a  very  serious  matter  for  a  man 
to  lose  his  home  and  his  employment  simulta- 
neously. It  is  of  no  great  importance  for  him 
to  lose  his  luncheon  with  his  job.  It  is  a  very 
costly  affair  for  employers  to  house  their  work- 
men. It  is  a  minor  expense  for  them  to  pro- 
vide excellent  luncheons  at  cost  price.  A  word 
of  an  experiment  made  along  this  line  by  one 
of  the  earliest  and  greatest  of  American  scien- 
tists may  be  well  worth  consideration. 

To  find  the  genesis  of  reform  in  the  prob- 
lem of  the  food  of  the  community,  we  must 
turn  back  more  than  one  hundred  years,  to 
that  North  Woburn  'prentice-boy  who  became 
soldier  and  philosopher,  diplomatist  and  privy 
councilor,  and  who,  at  the  height  of  his  ca- 
reer, ruled  the  Kingdom  of  Bavaria,  —  Count 
Rumf  ord.  A  possessor  of  autocratic  power,  he 
was  able  to  carry  out  one  of  the  most  sweep- 
ing experiments  in  practical  philanthropy  ever 
attempted.  On  January  1,  1790,  by  the  use 


120        THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

of  both  civil  and  military  power,  Rumford 
gathered  in  one  mass  the  whole  body  of  beg- 
gars about  the  capital  of  the  kingdom,  sweep- 
ing them  together  like  a  school  of  fishes  in 
a  net.  Having  brought  them  together,  he  de- 
termined to  reform  them,  and  decided  to  do 
this,  as  he  says,  "  Not  as  in  the  usual  method 
of  philanthropy,  making  people  virtuous  and 
then  happy,  but  rather  happy  and  then  virtu- 
ous " ;  and  this  because  "  it  is  most  undoubt- 
edly much  easier  to  contribute  to  the  happi- 
ness and  comfort  of  persons  in  a  state  of 
poverty  and  misery  than  by  admonitions  and 
punishments  to  improve  their  morals." 

Of  Rumford's  various  steps  to  accomplish 
that  end,  the  one  which  most  concerns  us  here 
was  the  success  of  his  community-kitchen.  He 
changed  his  beggars  in  six  years  from  being 
a  drain  on  the  state,  amounting  to  thousands 
on  thousands  of  florins  annually,  to  an  asset 
which  produced  a  considerable  net  profit  after 
expenses  of  every  kind  had  been  deducted. 
The  chief  element  in  Rumford's  success  was 
undoubtedly  his  development  of  industrious 
habits  where  before  had  existed  habits  quite 
the  opposite ;  but  next  in  importance  to  that  he 
himself  placed  the  triumph  of  the  commissa- 


THE  FOOD  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL    121 

riat.  By  careful  experimentation,  he  was  able 
to  feed  his  beggars  with  wholesome,  attractive, 
and  satisfying  fare  at  a  low  general  cost. 

Rumf ord  worked  in  the  dawn  of  scientific 
discovery,  peering  ahead  into  unknown  land 
where  no  explorer's  feet  had  trod.  To-day  we 
find  but  slowly  gaining  ground  the  recognition 
of  the  employer  that  his  well-fed,  well-housed, 
happy  workman  is  a  source  of  direct  profit. 
Eleven  decades  have  passed  between  Rum- 
ford's  practical  recognition  that  the  well-fed 
man  produces  most,  and  the  welfare  better- 
ment work  of  the  great  factories  of  the  present 
day :  a  century  filled  with  endless  experiments 
along  moral  and  charitable  lines,  with  but 
little  recognition  of  one  basic  fact,  — that  the 
worker  can  be  made  far  more  productive  by 
improving  his  environment. 

The  model  factory  of  the  present  day  should 
attack  the  question  of  community-food  by  the 
aid  of  all  the  data  at  command.  Its  welfare 
work  should  be  a  recognized  department,  en- 
titled to  support  as  much  as  its  selling  depart- 
ment ;  and  whatever  else  the  social  workers  do, 
the  problem  of  food  should  not  be  forgotten. 
The  old  noon-lunch  taken  from  a  tin  pail, 
containing  cold  coffee,  white-livered  pie,  and 


122         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

hunks  of  ill-baked  bread,  persists  in  most  of 
our  factories,  but  here  and  there  can  be  found 
one  where  the  noon  hour  means  long  white 
tables  and  hot,  nutritious  food,  at  a  minimum 
price.  The  daily  lunch  of  such  a  factory  does 
far  more  than  supply  that  single  meal :  it  sets 
a  new  standard  for  the  home.  The  workman 
who  finds  good  food  at  the  luncheon-table  is 
very  likely  to  desire  it  for  his  other  meals  ;  and 
the  follow-up  system  of  the  factory's  welfare 
department  should  meet  that  desire  by  cooking 
and  housekeeping  lessons  for  the  wives  and 
daughters  of  the  workers,  which  may  be  given 
in  classes  and  in  the  homes.  The  eagerness  to 
learn  on  the  part  of  many  is  pathetic,  and  the 
good  influence  of  a  single  factory  luncheon- 
table  may  spread  over  a  whole  community. 

That  lunch-rooms  for  employees  can  be 
made  practical  under  varying  conditions  has 
already  been  shown  by  no  small  number  of 
employers.  The  Waltham  Watch  Company 
of  Waltham,  the  Westinghouse  Companies  of 
Pittsburg,  the  Curtis  Publishing  Company  of 
Philadelphia,  and  many  others  have  done  much 
experimental  work  of  value.  The  manufac- 
turer who  recognizes  the  difficulty  of  the 
problem  and  yet  desires  to  solve  it  will  find 


THE  FOOD  OF  THE   INDIVIDUAL    123 

value  in  the  five  questions  formulated  by  the 
National  Civic  Federation  in  its  Conference 
in  Welfare  Work  held  some  time  ago.  These 
follow. 

"  In  establishing  lunch  opportunities 

"  1.  What  is  the  first  practical  step  ? 

"  2.  Should  the  company  take  the  initiative 
or  encourage  and  await  suggestions  from  the 
employees? 

"3.  Once  established,  should  the  lunch 
facilities  be  carried  on  by  employer  or  em- 
ployees, by  both,  or  by  an  outsider  ? 

"4.  Should  employees  pay  for  all  lunch- 
eons? 

"  5.  To  what  have  the  many  failures  been 
due?" 

If  the  individual  employer  uses  those  ques- 
tions and  makes  the  matter  personal  by 
amending  that  last  question  to  read 

"  What  can  the  failures  of  others  show  me 
as   to   methods    I   should   avoid   and   other 
methods  I  should  pursue  ?  " 
he  will  at  least  have  a  groundwork  on  which 
to  build. 

So  many  urgent  interests  engage  the  atten- 
tion of  our  agencies  for  social  reform,  that 
careful  determination  of  the  food  problems  of 


124        THE   HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

the  city,  followed  by  systematic  instruction  in 
the  methods  best  suited  to  individual  cases,  is 
rarely  found.  One  personal  episode  showed  me 
a  possibility  of  greater  accomplishment  than  I 
had  ever  seen  before.  I  had  spent  the  evening 
among  the  varied  activities  of  St.  George's 
Parish  in  New  York,  and  my  conversation  with 
some  of  the  workers  was  nearly  ended.  The 
old  question  of  fitting  the  instruction  to  the 
individual  arose.  One  turned  to  another.  "  How 
about  your  new  idea  in  that  direction  ?  "  We 
turned  to  hear  the  reply  :  "  I  am  trying  to 
work  out  a  course  which  will  give  the  girls  the 
most  nutritious,  least  expensive,  and  most  easily 
prepared  meals  that  can  be  cooked  over  a 
single  gas-light  in  a  hall  bedroom."  There  you 
have  it  epitomized.  Thousands  of  girls  living 
in  New  York  on  the  barest  living  wage  ;  morn- 
ing and  evening  meals  that  must  be  had ;  the 
gas-burner  as  the  only  means  of  heat.  There 
were  the  factors.  The  problem  must  be  solved 
by  their  use. 

The  community  -  kitchen,  in  theoretical 
rather  than  in  practical  form,  still  remains  a 
burning  question  in  our  households.  The  ser- 
vant class  is  diminishing  in  quantity  and  in 
quality.  The  influx  to  the  crowded  city  con- 


THE  FOOD  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL    125 

stantly  increases.  The  number  of  tired  house- 
wives chained  to  the  weary  routine  of  seem- 
ingly endless  tasks  seems  all  too  great.  Why 
has  not  the  community-kitchen  proved  the 
way  out  ?  One  reason  may  be  that  many  such 
experiments  have  begun  at  the  wrong  end. 
Most  of  the  community-kitchens  which  have 
lived  and  failed  have  been  started  among 
the  comparatively  well-to-do,  who  had  a  con- 
siderable privilege  of  choice.  There  seems  to 
be  no  apparent  reason  why  the  tremendously 
overburdened  factory-worker's  wife  should  not 
receive  such  a  kitchen  with  quite  as  much  wel- 
come as  her  richer  sister.  From  the  successes 
which  the  welfare  workers  of  the  factories  have 
gained  in  their  attempts  to  initiate  food  cru- 
sades, the  opening  of  community-kitchens  for 
the  operatives'  families  of  some  of  the  great 
manufacturing  plants  should  not  be  Utopian. 
One  thing  is  sure :  Count  Rumford's  concep- 
tion seems  plausible.  It  is  difficult  to  amuse, 
reform,  and  educate  the  man  with  an  empty 
stomach.  It  is  easier  to  do  it  with  the  well-fed 
individual. 

The  making  of  food  aU  that  it  should  be 
involves  many  complex  problems  of  sociology 
and  natural  science.  One  of  these  problems 


126         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

seems  solvable  to-day  by  specialized  education, 
by  the  training  of  the  women  of  the  great  city 
and  of  the  village,  of  rich  and  of  poor,  in 
household  arts.  The  solution  of  the  rest  of 
the  problem  must  depend  primarily  on  two 
groups  of  workers,  —  on  the  investigators  in 
the  laboratory,  whose  untiring  researches  are 
gradually  reducing  dietetics  to  a  science,  and 
on  the  public  spirit  of  societies  and  corpora- 
tions which  stand  ready  to  make  this  further 
effort,  to  take  this  next  step  in  the  better- 
ment of  life  to  the  individual.  From  all  these 
agencies  may  come,  in  time,  the  realization  of 
our  purpose,  —  increase  of  the  total  efficiency 
through  the  individual's  gain  in  power. 


CITY  WATER  AND  CITY  WASTE 

ON  the  Campagna,  still  dominating  the  soft 
Italian  landscape,  stand  the  great  aqueducts 
by  which  water  was  brought  to  the  imperial 
city.  In  the  time  of  the  Roman  engineers, 
the  necessity  of  an  adequate  supply  of  water 
was  recognized ;  yet  even  to  the  present  day, 
quantity  of  water  has  been  the  first  step,  and 
quality,  when  considered  at  all,  the  second.  In 
no  place  has  this  condition  been  more  apparent 
than  in  the  United  States.  England,  by  her 
wide-reaching  systems  of  great  reservoirs  fed 
by  the  waters  of  small  streams  ;  France  and 
Austria,  by  their  mountain-spring  supplies, 
necessitating  hundreds  of  miles  of  aqueducts, 
trailing  their  way  from  the  upper  slopes 
through  meadows  and  vineyards  to  the  towns 
and  cities;  Germany,  with  her  enormous  purifi- 
cation plants  for  treating  polluted  river  waters, 
—  all  have  taken  more  national  interest  in  the 
problems  of  public  water-supply  than  has  the 
United  States.  In  this  country  there  are  many 


128        THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

excellent  water-supplies,  but  there  are  many 
others  still  existing  in  a  most  imperfect  state, 
furnishing  with  every  gallon  of  water  the  pos- 
sibilities of  disease. 

Great  bodies  of  men  have  concentrated  in 
the  cities  during  the  last  half  century.  With 
this  concentration  centres  of  population  have 
emerged  from  the  condition  where  every  man's 
water-supply  was  his  well,  his  sewage-plant 
the  cesspool  in  his  own  yard  ;  and,  with  many 
another  collective  change,  we  have  come  to 
a  common  source  of  water  and  a  common  dis- 
posal of  sewage.  To  guard  the  purity  of  the 
common  water  and  to  insure  safe  methods 
of  sewage  disposal  is  a  great  task,  for  without 
such  guardianship,  grave  and  deadly  danger  is 
at  the  city's  side.  A  single  failure  of  this  sort 
may  well  recall  the  gravity  of  the  problem. 

In  April,  1885,  the  town  of  Plymouth, 
Pennsylvania,  contained  some  eight  thousand 
men,  women,  and  children.  The  general  health 
was  excellent,  and  the  water-supply,  from  a 
clear  mountain  spring  far  above  the  town, 
seemed  unusually  good.  Like  a  whirlwind  came 
the  plague.  Out  of  that  eight  thousand,  eleven 
hundred  and  four  contracted  typhoid  fever, 
and  one  hundred  and  fourteen  died.  Rich  and 


CITY  WATER  AND  CITY  WASTE     129 

poor  alike  were  taken,  and  through  every  part 
of  the  town,  highlands  as  well  as  lowlands, 
the  fever  raged.  And  this  terror  came  from 
a  single  case  of  typhoid,  brought  back  from 
a  great  city  whose  polluted  waters  caused  the 
fever.  This  case  existed  in  one  of  the  only  two 
houses  that  could  contaminate  the  water-sys- 
tem. From  this  source  came  the  decimation  of 
the  little  town  far  below.  The  story  of  such 
water-borne  epidemics  as  this,  and  the  solution 
of  the  problem  of  prevention  by  the  sanitary 
engineer,  form  one  of  the  most  fascinating 
chapters  in  the  never-ending  war  against  dis- 
ease. 

Disease  is  ordinarily  caused  by  preexist- 
ing disease  in  man  or  another  animal.  Here 
is  a  bold  statement  that  is  often  forgotten. 
Typhoid  fever  and  Asiatic  cholera  from  the 
intestinal  germs  of  former  cases,  scarlet  fever 
and  measles  from  the  skin-excretions  of  con- 
valescing patients ;  yellow  fever  and  malaria 
through  the  mosquito  in  which  the  disease-germs 
pass  a  portion  of  their  life,  —  case  after  case  of 
the  truth  of  this  theory  might  be  cited.  More- 
over, if  we  accept  the  germ  theory  of  disease, 
we  must  believe  that  many  classes  of  ailments 
owe  their  origin  to  certain  definite  micro-or- 


130         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

ganisms,  each  of  which  belongs  specifically  to 
a  separate  disease.  It  is  well  known  that  these 
bacteria,  entering  the  body  in  sufficient  num- 
ber, find  there  a  comfortable  lodging-place 
where  they  may  grow  and  multiply.  A  pecul- 
iarly favorable  ground  for  the  cultivation  of 
certain  of  these  micro-organisms  is  furnished 
by  the  alimentary  canal.  Water  is  the  chief 
substance  to  pass  through  this  channel.  Ty- 
phoid fever  and  Asiatic  cholera  are  water- 
borne.  Water,  pouring  from  the  hillside  down 
to  the  lake  or  river,  has  no  selective  power  by 
which  it  can  avoid  carrying  on  disease-germs 
in  its  path.  Evidently,  it  is  of  vital  importance 
for  us  to  know  the  possibilities  of  disease  in 
water,  and  how  prevention  may  be  secured. 

Of  all  possible  sources  of  bacterial  infection 
of  water,  sewage  stands  easily  first.  Sewage, 
the  collected  organic  wastes  of  community 
life,  is  the  home  of  myriads  upon  myriads  of 
bacteria.  With  the  necessity  for  a  common 
sewer  has  come  the  problem  of  such  a  disposi- 
tion of  sewage  that  there  shall  be  no  possibil- 
ity of  admixture  with  the  water-supply.  The 
coast  cities  can  use  the  sea  for  such  disposal, 
but  the  great  mass  of  our  population  is  inland. 
Large  towns  and  cities  must  depend  on  large 


CITY   WATER  AND   CITY  WASTE     131 

bodies  of  water  for  their  water-supply.  The 
danger  that  these  waters  may  contain  pollu- 
tion from  sewage  is  one  which  should  be 
avoided  at  any  cost. 

Each  pipe  and  faucet  bringing  water  into 
the  private  home  or  public  fountain  is  a  gate 
by  which  disease  may  enter,  if  proper  safe- 
guards are  not  placed  in  the  way.  Let  us  con- 
sider what  barriers,  natural  and  artificial,  may 
be  raised  against  such  entrance. 

Two  classes  of  water  are  recognized  by  the 
sanitary  engineer.  Ground-water  is  the  first, 
in  which  class  ultimately  belongs  the  great 
body  of  atmospheric  water  falling  to  the  soil. 
This  water  directly  penetrates  the  interstices 
of  the  surface-earth,  and  sinks  to  a  greater 
or  less  distance.  Surface-water,  on  the  other 
hand,  is  that  water  which  strikes  non-perme- 
able soil,  and  rolls  from  rocks  or  flows  from 
clayey  earths  directly  into  streams  or  ponds. 
These  larger  bodies,  as  well  as  their  visible 
supplies,  are  also  called  surface-water,  although 
they  are  fed  to  a  large  degree  by  ground- 
waters  from  below.  It  is  in  the  water  on  the 
surface  of  the  earth  that  one  finds  the  chief 
source  of  peril.  The  rushing  stream  or  quiet 
brook  gathers  the  various  impurities  along  its 


132         THE  HEALTH   OF  THE  CITY 

road  and  disseminates  them  as  it  passes  on, 
•while,  to  add  to  the  difficulty,  other  pollution 
may  come  from  industrial  and  organic  wastes 
sent  forth  from  factory  and  town  along  the 
shore. 

Ground-water,  as  it  passes  into  the  earth, 
receives  a  natural  filtration  marvelously  thor- 
ough in  its  action.  In  this  straining  and  cleans- 
ing of  the  water  entering  the  soil  we  find 
the  first  of  the  natural  barriers  placed  against 
the  foe.  A  porous  earth  is  a  storehouse  of  bac- 
teria ;  the  richer  the  soil,  the  more  fertile 
and  open  the  ground,  the  greater  will  be  the 
multitudes  of  bacilli  spread  to  an  indefinite 
extent  throughout  its  masses,  since  here  are 
found  all  the  advantages  to  foster  the  life  of 
the  germ,  —  darkness,  moisture,  and  food.  As 
the  water  passes  down  through  layers  rich  in 
micro-organisms,  some  filtration  proper  un- 
doubtedly .takes  place.  Important  for  purifi- 
cation as  well  is  the  fact  that  the  bacteria 
in  its  path  rob  the  traveling  liquid  of  its  or- 
ganic matters,  the  food  of  the  germs.  This 
action  is  so  effective  as  soon  to  make  bacte- 
rial existence  impossible.  In  consequence,  the 
purity  of  the  ground-waters  is  marked ;  and 
when  taken  from  deep  cavities,  by  means  of 


CITY  WATER  AND  CITY  WASTE     133 

driven  wells,  they  make  a  serviceable  type  of 
water-supply.  A  possible  hardness  from  dis- 
solved inorganic  matters,  and  a  tendency  to 
develop  vegetable  growths  under  the  action  of 
light,  are  two  difficulties  with  such  a  source. 
Far  more  serious,  however,  is  the  fact  that 
such  a  supply  in  most  cases  is  small  in  amount, 
owing  to  the  slight  extent  of  the  natural  res- 
ervoirs. 

The  limited  supply  of  ground-water  has 
forced  the  great  mass  of  communities  to  the 
use  of  surface-water.  With  this  source  the  first 
point  of  defense  must  be  the  control  of  that 
territory  from  which  the  supply  comes.  No 
point  in  the  chain  of  defense  against  the 
invading  germ  is  of  more  importance  than 
complete  control  and  proper  supervision  here. 
The  results  of  overlooking  this  necessity  have 
already  been  noted  in  the  case  of  the  town 
of  Plymouth ;  and  widespread  epidemics  have 
often  come  from  a  single  source  of  infection 
on  the  watershed.  In  Germany,  England,  and 
America  it  has  repeatedly  happened  that  in 
towns  with  two  sources  of  supply,  one  pure  and 
the  other  impure,  those  who  used  pure  water 
have  escaped,  while  those  who  used  the  pol- 
luted liquid  have  perished.  More  thoroughly 


134         THE  HEALTH   OF  THE  CITY 

to  safeguard  the  Metropolitan  Water-Works 
System  in  Boston,  for  instance,  neighboring 
towns  and  cities,  whose  drainage  might  even 
remotely  affect  the  water  furnished  by  the 
system,  have  been  obliged  to  install  sewage- 
disposal  plants. 

Geological  conditions  and  the  natural  slopes 
of  the  land  prevent  many  cities  from  using  still 
waters  collected  in  reservoirs  or  impounding 
basins,  and  they  are  forced  to  resort  to  more 
or  less  polluted  lakes  and  rivers.  Even  under 
this  necessity,  how  has  it  come  about  that  so 
many  water-supplies  are  taken  directly  from 
polluted  sources,  without  a  single  cleansing  of 
the  raw  water?  The  answer  in  many  cases  must 
be  that  such  systems  were  installed  during  the 
prevalence  of  the  theory  that  "  running  water 
purifies  itself."  This  theory  was  based  on  the 
fact  that  fouled  running  water  soon  became 
bright  and  clear.  The  chemical  analysis  showed 
that  less  organic  matter  was  present  at  the  lower 
than  at  the  higher  point  where  wastes  had 
entered.  Moreover,  the  slight  knowledge  of 
bacterial  water  examination  of  that  day  was  in- 
sufficient to  show  that  the  germs  of  disease  had 
not  disappeared  between  the  two  points  to  the 
same  extent  as  had  the  other  organic  matter. 


CITY  WATER  AND  CITY   WASTE     135 

On  the  contrary,  it  is  now  known  that  stor- 
age water-systems  which  keep  potable  water 
for  periods  of  time  in  lake  or  reservoir  have  a 
purifying  tendency.  This  purification  is  due 
to  the  fact  that  parasitic  bacteria  in  the  low 
temperature,  the  sunlight,  and  the  scant  food- 
supply  of  a  reservoir  or  lake  where  organic 
matter  is  practically  absent,  have  at  best  a 
struggle  for  existence.  Many  must  succumb, 
since  disease  bacteria  of  the  water-borne  varie- 
ties are  adapted  to  the  warmth  and  moisture 
of  the  alimentary  canal.  Such  germs  as  these, 
accustomed  as  they  are  to  an  easy  existence, 
die  when  brought  into  conditions  where  hardier 
organisms  might  survive. 

Storage  is  sometimes  impossible  to  attain. 
Communities  must  occasionally  depend  on  river 
waters  at  their  doors.  Yet  no  town  placed  on 
a  river-bank  and  unable  to  obtain  long  stor- 
age need  be  forced  to  use  polluted  water  or  lie 
defenseless  against  the  bacterial  assault.  One 
safeguard  stands  preeminent  to-day  :  the  filtra- 
tion of  water  under  conditions  which  remove 
not  only  its  turbidity  and  color,  but  even  much 
of  its  bacterial  life  as  well.  Water-filtration 
proper,  as  opposed  to  sewage-filtration,  is  a 
mechanical  operation,  a  straining  out,  not  only 


136         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

of  dust  and  dirt,  but  also  of  the  infinitely  small 
inhabitants  of  the  liquid,  these  inhabitants 
being  such  tiny  living  organisms  that  tens  and 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  them  may  float  un- 
seen in  a  teaspoonful  of  water.  Let  us  journey 
through  the  chain  of  fortifications  used  in  the 
treatment  of  water  by  a  system  of  continuous 
filtration. 

To  remove  any  grosser  forms  of  residue, 
such  as  gravel  and  waste,  the  raw  incoming 
water,  known  as  the  affluent,  is  turned  into  a 
great  reservoir  with  massive  sides,  called  the 
settling  or  sedimentation  basin.  Here  the  li- 
quid is  allowed  to  remain  until  the  impurities 
which  would  clog  the  filter  have  settled.  When 
this  has  occurred,  the  upper  layers  of  the  water 
are  drawn  off  into  the  filter  proper,  a  great 
basin  made  of  masonry  or  concrete,  under- 
drained,  and  with  an  exit  pipe  at  the  bottom. 
This  basin  is  filled  with  fine  sand  above  a  gravel 
layer,  which  in  turn  is  supported  by  rock  un- 
derdrains.  The  sand  acts  in  a  double  capacity. 
The  spaces  between  separate  grains  of  sand  are 
ordinarily  less  than  5|7  of  an  inch  in  diameter, 
so  that  the  passage  of  all  but  the  finest  par- 
ticles is  prohibited.  The  bacteria  would  pass 
even  through  here,  were  it  not  for  a  second  ser- 


CITY  WATER  AND  CITY  WASTE     137 

vice  of  sand,  which  acts  in  a  most  remarkable 
way  as  a  support  for  a  true  bacterial  filter.  As 
the  affluent  passes  through  the  upper  layers, 
the  sand  stops  the  coarser  materials  left  in  the 
liquid  and  held  in  suspension  there.  Soon 
there  forms  above  the  original  surface  a  filter 
composed  of  the  smaller  sediments,  a  layer  so 
fine  that  even  the  infinitely  small  micro-organ- 
isms cannot  pass.  Many  of  them  are  probably 
held  by  the  sheer  adhesion  of  the  sand.  Add 
this  adhesion  to  the  filtering  powers  of  the 
sediment  layer,  and  you  have  erected  a  strong 
barrier.  Here  is  a  fortress  placed  across  the 
pathway  of  the  invading  germ,  a  barrier  so 
effectual  that  water  from  sources  polluted  with 
disease-germs  has  been  safely  furnished  to 
thousands  after  such  filtration. 

The  sediment-filter  is,  of  course,  constantly 
increasing  in  thickness,  and  as  it  increases, 
more  and  more  pressure  is  necessary  to  drive 
water  through  the  interstices.  When  the  point 
is  reached  where  the  pressure  required  to  force 
the  water  through  is  too  great  to  be  practica- 
ble, the  surface  of  the  filter  is  scraped.  Since 
during  this  scraping  the  filter  has  to  be  out 
of  commission,  filter-plants  are  generally  built 
up  from  a  series  of  small  filters,  in  order  that 


138         THE  HEALTH   OF  THE  CITY 

one  or  more  may  be  out  of  use  at  any  time  for 
repairs.  Filters  may  be  either  open  or  roofed, 
the  covering  of  the  filter-beds  depending  to 
some  degree  upon  geographical  location.  The 
North  requires  covered  filters,  while  the  South 
gets  along  very  well  with  open  ones,  the  chief 
difficulty  being  due  to  ice-formation. 

Besides  the  continuous  filter  described  above, 
one  other  form  of  filtration  is  commonly  em- 
ployed to-day,  —  the  mechanical  filter.  For  the 
last  ten  years  the  growth  in  number  of  plants 
of  this  type  has  been  most  remarkable.  The 
mechanical  filter  differs  greatly  from  the  con- 
tinuous filter.  It  delivers  from  fifty  to  one 
hundred  times  the  quantity  of  water,  and  is 
correspondingly  reduced  in  size.  A  single  con- 
tinuous filter  may  occupy  an  acre,  while  half 
a  dozen  mechanical  filters  may  be  installed  in 
less  than  a  quarter  of  that  space.  The  former 
device  recognizes  as  a  cardinal  principle  the 
keeping  intact  of  the  surface  of  the  filter 
where  the  bacterial  life  is  strained  out  in  the 
close  upper  layers.  The  latter  accomplishes 
its  work  by  the  addition  of  a  chemical,  whose 
action  on  meeting  the  water  is  such  as  to 
engulf  all  matters  held  in  suspension,  includ- 
ing bacteria,  thus  forming  comparatively  large 


CITY  WATER  AND  CITY  WASTE     139 

masses,  which  can  be  filtered  without  difficulty. 
The  chemical  commonly  employed  in  the  me- 
chanical filter  is  sulphate  of  alumina,  which, 
when  added  to  water,  separates  into  sulphuric 
acid  and  alumina,  the  latter  being  a  floccu- 
lent  cloudy  precipitate  which  spreads  out  over 
the  water.  The  heavy  precipitate  thus  formed 
settles  down  upon  the  sand,  and,  acting  like 
a  sediment-layer  in  the  continuous  filter,  re- 
moves the  germs.  As  with  these  large  masses 
the  clogging  tends  to  stop  the  flow,  the  sand 
at  brief  periods  is  washed  and  stirred,  with 
removal  of  the  former  residues. 

Now  as  to  household  filters.  What  can  we 
do  in  the  private  home  to  stop  the  entrance  of 
the  disease-germ,  provided  we  believe  danger 
exists  ?  The  sanitary  experts  say  that  no  small 
filter  which  allows  a  good  stream  of  water  to 
pass  removes  bacteria.  In  the  sale  of  such 
filters  and  the  belief  in  their  efficiency  lies 
peril  to  the  public,  who  so  often  believe  that  a 
couple  of  inches  of  sand  or  charcoal  preserves 
them  from  all  harm.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
expert  engineers  are  practically  agreed  that 
eighteen  inches  of  sand  above  drains,  and 
that  well  covered  with  the  sediment-filter,  are 
necessary  to  obtain  efficiency.  Some  of  the 


140         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

larger  household  filters  are  efficient  when  filled 
•with  fine  filtering  matters,  such  as  sandstone 
and  infusorial  earth,  which  only  allow  water 
to  pass  drop  by  drop.  These  are  usually  either 
provided  with  storage-reservoirs,  or  joined  in 
a  series  of  filters  so  that  a  quantity  may  be 
obtained  at  once  despite  the  slow  rate  of  fil- 
tration. One  simple  safeguard  is  always  at 
hand,  and  should  never  be  forgotten,  —  the 
boiling  of  the  drinking-water.  No  precau- 
tion is  better  in  time  of  epidemics.  One  point 
should  be  made  clear,  —  individual  protection 
can  never  possess  a  fraction  of  the  value  that 
belongs  to  municipal  control,  any  more  than 
the  individual  fire  extinguisher  can  compete 
with  the  city  fire  department. 

The  teeming  thousands  in  the  narrow  ways 
receive  one  common  food,  the  city  water.  We 
have  already  considered  the  way  in  which  it 
may  be  delivered  to  all,  pure  and  free  from 
dangerous  burdens.  We  must  now  consider  the 
other  side,  the  outgo  of  the  city.  Every  organ- 
ism, as  a  condition  of  its  existence,  must  be 
forever  building  up  and  breaking  down.  Life 
depends  upon  the  proper  balance  of  the  con- 
structive and  destructive  forces  of  nature. 


CITY  WATER  AND  CITY   WASTE     141 

From  the  decomposition  of  the  organic  foods 
and  various  materials  used  in  our  complex 
life,  from  the  sweepings  of  the  streets  and  the 
discharges  from  houses,  factories,  and  shops, 
comes  the  outgo  of  the  city,  its  sewage. 

The  sewer  is  the  abiding-place  of  good  and 
bad  bacteria,  five  million  or  more  of  which 
may  make  their  home  in  a  single  thimbleful 
of  liquid.  In  the  sewer  they  find  darkness, 
moisture,  and  food.  There  they  thrive  and 
multiply.  Possibly  as  important  as  the  number 
of  evil  micro-organisms  found  there  is  the  cer- 
tainty of  the  presence  of  deleterious  organic 
matters  which,  in  their  present  state,  and  in 
their  changed  form  after  decomposition,  are 
products  dangerous  in  themselves  and  noxious 
to  all  around.  We  have  hitherto  considered 
chiefly  the  removal  of  bacteria  of  disease ;  but 
we  must  here  consider  as  of  primary  impor- 
tance the  elimination  of  the  harmful  elements 
of  the  city  wastes. 

The  realization  that  sewage,  unless  properly 
purified,  might  be  a  danger  to  the  community 
is  a  matter  of  comparatively  recent  growth. 
In  1815  London  used  her  sewers  only  for  rain- 
water, and  disposition  of  other  matters  therein 
was  forbidden.  Here  and  there  in  isolated 


142         THE  HEALTH   OF  THE  CITY 

cases  might  be  found  early  attempts  at  some 
method  of  disposal,  as  in  the  case  of  the  little 
town  of  Bunzlau  in  Prussia,  which  iii  1559 
had  a  piped  water-supply  and  a  system  of  sew- 
age-farming. These  attempts  at  scientific  solu- 
tion of  the  problem  were  at  best  sporadic 
until  the  year  1844,  which  marks  the  opening 
of  an  era  that  recognized  the  necessity  for 
proper  waste-disposal.  This  era  began  with  the 
remarkable  "  Report  of  the  Health  of  Towns 
Commission  in  Great  Britain,"  which  for  the 
first  time  revealed  the  dangers  which  might 
come  from  improper  waste-disposal  and  the 
accumulation  of  sewage.  As  a  result  of  that 
report  arose  the  "  Filth  Theory  of  Disease," 
which,  since  it  is  not  yet  eradicated  from  the 
popular  mind,  and  since  under  it  was  accom- 
plished some  of  the  best  sanitary  work  of  the 
century,  needs  at  least  a  passing  mention  here. 
According  to  this  belief,  disease  was  bred  in 
masses  of  decomposing  filth;  it  originated 
there,  and  was  in  some  way  a  product  of  the 
reactions  therein  contained.  We  now  know 
that  the  main  part  of  this  theory  is  false,  and 
that  disease  cannot  originate  in  filth,  although 
it  does  find  there  a  convenient  carrier. 

This   "Filth   Theory   of   Disease"   swept 


CITY  WATER  AND  CITY  WASTE      143 

through  the  scientific  world  with  the  most  sur- 
prising rapidity.  The  problem  of  sewage-dis- 
posal became  urgent  in  a  moment,  and  soon 
the  modern  method  of  sewage-carriage,  dilu- 
tion with  water,  was  evolved ;  and  the  problem 
became  that  of  handling  a  mass  of  wastes 
enormously  diluted  with  water,  a  dilution  so 
great  that  in  America  there  exists  but  one  part 
of  solid  in  one  thousand  of  water.  Disposal  by 
dilution  is  in  some  special  cases  possible.  It  is 
true  that  where  not  more  than  one  part  of 
diluted  sewage  is  sent  into  fifty  of  water,  the 
oxygen  of  the  water  may  be  sufficient  to  take 
care  of  the  wastes;  but  this  proportion  of  water 
to  sewage  is  so  large  that,  save  on  the  sea,  on 
great  lakes,  or  on  rivers  the  size  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, any  such  disposal  is  unsafe  in  the  extreme, 
and  any  use  of  water  from  such  a  source  must 
be  a  constant  menace. 

The  first  step  in  any  handling  of  sewage  is 
such  a  separation  of  the  wastes  that  the  differ- 
ent parts  may  be  handled  to  the  best  advan- 
tage. The  first  treatment  consists  in  screening 
the  large  floating  objects  which  have  entered 
the  sewer  in  various  ways,  and  removing  all 
rags,  bits  of  wood,  and  the  like,  which  may  be 

'  '  V 

in  the  liquid.  In  Germany  this  treatment  has 


144         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

been  brought  to  a  high  degree  of  efficiency  by 
the  use  of  very  fine  screens  mechanically  op- 
erated. There  will  still  remain  in  suspension 
a  large  amount  of  gravel  and  other  matters  of 
that  type,  which  have  been  washed  in  from 
the  sewer-openings  in  the  streets.  This  may 
be  removed  by  checking  the  rate  of  flow,  and 
so  allowing  a  settling-out  to  take  place.  That 
leaves  as  the  crux  of  the  problem  the  disposi- 
tion of  the  organic  matter  which  is  left.  Puri- 
fication by  chemical  precipitants,  such  as  are 
used  in  the  purification  of  water  in  mechani- 
cal filters,  has  been  tried  in  the  past  and  has 
proved  unsatisfactory. 

Before  passing  to  the  consideration  of  par- 
ticular details,  let  us  turn  for  a  moment  to 
consider  by  what  method  this  cleansing  may 
be  brought  about.  Sewage  must  either  putrefy 
or  nitrify.  That  is,  it  must  either  decompose 
(with  results  unfavorable  in  the  extreme),  or 
such  chemical  action  must  take  place  as  will 
change  the  harmful  organic  ingredients  to 
simple  inorganic  matters,  a  result  really  ef- 
fected through  bringing  them  into  contact 
with  the  air,  the  oxygen  of  which  will  produce 
the  change.  These  organic  city  wastes,  while 
most  complex,  and  differing  greatly  in  their 


CITY  WATER  AND  CITY  WASTE     145 

individual  structure,  are  yet  composed  chiefly 
of  but  four  elements,  carbon,  hydrogen,  nitro- 
gen, and  oxygen.  The  oxidation  or  nitrifica- 
tion of  such  wastes  consists  in  so  combining 
the  nitrogen  with  the  free  oxygen  of  the  air 
as  to  form  nitrates.  This  is  the  reaction,  which 
is  of  importance  to  the  city's  health,  though  at 
the  same  time  the  hydrogen  is  oxidized  to  water, 
and  the  carbon  to  carbon  dioxide. 

The  problem  before  us,  then,  really  resolves 
itself  into  this:  How  may  we  so  oxidize  or 
nitrify  sewage  as  to  change  the  noxious  or- 
ganic matter  into  harmless  mineral  substances? 
To  do  this,  the  sanitary  engineer  reverses  one 
of  his  processes  for  cleansing  water.  Instead 
of  removing  the  germs,  as  in  water-filtration, 
he  cultivates  myriads  of  helpful  bacteria. 
Whether  we  consider  such  sewage-disposal  as 
carried  on  by  natural  or  by  artificial  means, 
on  the  irrigated  farm  or  the  trickling  filter,  we 
find  this  startling  and  remarkable  fact :  the 
oxidizing  of  the  sewage  is  done  by  millions  of 
living  organisms.  These  tiny  particles  take  in 
the  organic  wastes  and  turn  them  into  safe 
and  harmless  inorganic  matters.  To  cultivate 
such  bacteria,  and  to  use  their  destructive 
powers  on  dangerous  elements,  has  been  the 


146         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

effort  of  all  recent  sewage  researches.  How 
they  are  accomplishing  this  task  may  be  told 
briefly  here. 

The  oldest  form  of  sewage-disposal  is  the 
disposal  on  land  for  use  as  a  fertilizer.  For 
more  than  four  centuries  the  sewage-farm  has 
been  an  attractive  conception  to  students  of 
possible  economies  of  the  state.  Berlin  and 
Paris  have  both  had  farms  of  this  kind  for 
years,  and  many  other  experiments  along  this 
line  have  been  made  here  and  abroad. 

On  soils  even  moderately  fertile  the  sewage- 
farm  seldom  pays,  costing,  despite  returns, 
more  for  its  maintenance  than  other  types 
of  disposal-systems.  It  is  on  soils  like  those 
of  the  West,  where  the  water  carrying  the 
organic  matter  is  of  value  for  irrigation,  that 
sewage-farming  has  been  made  to  pay;  and 
there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  in  such 
a  region  it  could  be  made  a  most  profitable 
municipal  investment. 

The  fertility  of  any  soil  is  greatly  affected 
by  the  bacterial  action  which  goes  on  in  its 
upper  layers.  The  bacteria  on  the  soil  of  sew- 
age-farms are  the  oxidizing  agents,  taking  in 
the  organic,  and  sending  forth  inorganic,  mat- 
ters at  the  end  of  the  reaction.  As  the  fertility 


CITY  WATER  AND  CITY  WASTE     147 

of  the  soil  increases,  the  effectiveness  of  the 
plant  to  nitrify  the  sewage  increases  as  well, 
but  one  precaution  must  be  taken  in  any  use 
of  sewage  for  fertilizer.  No  crop  should  be 
raised  which  is  to  be  eaten  raw,  and  preferably 
no  crop  intended  for  human  consumption.  A 
notable  example  of  successful  Western  sew- 
age-farming is  shown  by  Pasadena,  Califor- 
nia, where  walnuts,  a  crop  safe  from  bacterial 
infection  because  of  their  shell,  and  free  from 
all  clogging  of  the  porous  soil,  have  been 
grown  with  profitable  results.  A  substantial 
profit  has  been  made  year  by  year,  and  from 
the  surplus  the  original  cost  of  the  land  is 
rapidly  being  paid  off. 

Leaving  this  natural  process,  we  come  to 
the  processes  evolved  by  science.  By  1865  it 
was  recognized  that  the  essential  factor  in  the 
purification  of  sewage  by  means  of  land  was 
the  bacterial  action  upon  the  organic  wastes. 
Early  investigators  had  some  inkling  of  the 
fact,  and  had  proposed  a  system  by  which, 
through  the  special  cultivation  of  the  destruc- 
tive germs,  a  rapid  purification  might  take 
place.  By  passing  the  organic  wastes  of  a 
community,  with  their  accompanying  micro- 
organisms, through  great  masses  of  destruc- 


148         THE  HEALTH   OF  THE  CITY 

tive  bacteria  of  the  proper  type,  these  waste 
products  might  be  broken  down,  the  living 
organisms  destroyed,  and  the  harmful  ele- 
ments removed.  A  tremendous  conception,  this 
enlisting  of  armies  of  good  microbes  to  fight 
the  hosts  of  evil !  This  theory  has  directed 
the  scientific  attack  on  the  problem  for  the  last 
thirty  years.  Given  the  possibility  of  such 
action,  what  method  could  best  carry  it  out  ? 

In  1887  conditions  in  Massachusetts  had 
become  so  serious  that  there  was  instituted  by 
the  State  Board  of  Health  an  experiment  sta- 
tion at  Lawrence  for  the  study  of  sewage-dis- 
posal and  water-supply.  It  was  put  under  the 
charge  of  Mr.  H.  F.  Mills,  with  the  coopera- 
tion of  Professors  Sedgwick  and  Drown  of  the 
Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology.  At 
that  station  were  carried  out  the  classic  Law- 
rence experiments. 

In  these  researches  ten  different  filtering 
materials,  such  as  gravel,  sand,  loam,  and  the 
like,  were  placed  in  ten  experimental  tanks, 
and  the  same  sewage  was  passed  through  each. 
Continuous  and  intermittent  filtration  was 
tried,  and  the  number  of  bacteria  present  be- 
fore and  after  filtration  was  most  carefully 
determined.  As  a  result,  the  great  principle 


CITY  WATER  AND  CITY  WASTE     149 

was  established  that  purification  is  an  oxidiz- 
ing process  carried  out  by  bacteria  living  in 
the  filter,  and  (a  most  important  result)  that 
a  rich  supply  of  oxygen  is  necessary  for  their 
activity.  The  process  of  action  with  oxygen  is 
known  as  the  "  breathing  of  the  filters."  It 
was  early  found  that  in  sewage-filters,  like  the 
continuous  water-filters,  there  was  not  suffi- 
cient opportunity  for  the  bacilli  to  obtain 
enough  oxygen  to  oxidize  the  organic  matter 
passing  over.  In  consequence  it  soon  became 
evident  that  maximum  efficiency  would  be  ob- 
tained only  when  —  the  filters  having  been 
once  filled  with  sewage — the  bacteria  should 
be  allowed  to  act  upon  it  with  free  access 
to  the  oxygen  of  the  air.  This  intermittent 
action,  the  addition  of  the  sewage  followed  by 
the  addition  of  supplies  of  oxygen,  is  a  battle 
in  which  the  foe  is  met  by  a  defending  army 
whose  ammunition  is  constantly  renewed. 

The  principle  of  the  intermittent  filter  is 
found  in  the  other  modern  devices  by  which 
bacteria  meet  bacteria  in  deadly  battle.  The 
contact-bed  system,  used  in  England,  is  found 
but  rarely  here.  In  this  system,  the  liquid, 
instead  of  passing  through  the  filter  of  sand, 
is  let  into  a  great  tank  filled  with  coke  or  some 


150          THE  HEALTH   OF  THE  CITY 

hard,  smooth  material ;  this  is  then  filled  with 
sewage  and  closed.  The  sewage  is  allowed  to 
remain  there  for  two  hours  or  more.  During 
this  time  the  bacterial  films  upon  the  rocks 
absorb  organic  matter  and  bacteria,  and  at  the 
end  the  remaining  liquid  is  discharged.  Oxy- 
gen is  thereby  allowed  entrance  to  the  films, 
and  the  bacteria  do  their  appointed  work  as 
scavengers.  By  careful  regulation  as  to  the 
time  necessary  to  accomplish  the  results,  it  has 
been  claimed  that  satisfactory  purification  may 
be  obtained ;  but  extreme  care  has  to  be  taken 
in  the  control.  Some  decomposing  action  also 
proceeds  during  the  period  in  which  the  sew- 
age is  in  the  tank.  Action  of  this  type  will  be 
considered  later  in  a  paragraph  on  the  septic 
tank,  and  need  not  be  considered  here. 

The  third  type  of  disposal  is  still  simpler 
in  principle.  In  early  experiments  with  inter- 
mittent filtration,  air  was  forced  in  from  below 
to  allow  for  the  breathing  of  the  filters.  Soon 
the  necessity  for  more  air,  for  increased  sup- 
plies of  oxygen,  made  further  experiments 
along  the  line  of  intermittent  filtration  neces- 
sary. In  the  trickling  or  sprinkling  filter  it 
was  first  made  possible  to  treat  sewage  with 
a  continuous  supply  of  air.  In  this  process,  by 


CITY    WATER  AND  CITY  WASTE     151 

one  means  or  another,  —  the  tipping  of  small 
buckets  or  splashing  from  sprinklers,  —  the 
sewage  is  constantly  passing  into  a  filter  filled 
with  coarse  gravel.  As  it  trickles  down  be- 
tween the  openings,  it  carries  with  it  air  for 
its  own  destruction.  Oxygen  is  also  obtained 
from  the  open  construction  of  the  filter,  which 
allows  constant  air-communication  between 
the  interstices.  The  bacterial  films  upon  the 
stones  absorb  the  organic  matters  and  new 
bacterial  life,  as  in  the  case  of  the  contact-bed ; 
and  through  the  constant  breathing  of  the  fil- 
ters the  oxygen  necessary  for  the  burning  up 
or  oxidization  of  the  wastes  is  secured. 

The  action  of  the  intermittent  filter  and  the 
possibilities  of  its  use  can  be  expressed  in  no 
way  better  than  by  quoting  the  brilliant  end- 
ing of  Mr.  Winslow's  article  on  this  subject : 
"  The  trickling  bed  appears  to  be  the  ideal 
method  of  solving  the  essential  problem  of  sew- 
age-disposal, the  oxidation  of  organic  matter. 
It  exhibits  the  simplicity  of  all  scientific  appli- 
cations which  are  merely  intelligent  intensifi- 
cations of  natural  processes.  A  pile  of  stones 
on  which  bacterial  growth  may  gather,  and 
a  regulated  supply  of  sewage,  are  the  only 
desiderata.  We  meet  the  conditions  resulting 


152         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

from  an  abnormal  aggregation  of  human  life 
in  the  city  by  setting  up  a  second  city  of 
microbes.  The  dangerous  organic  waste-mate- 
rial produced  in  the  city  of  human  habitations 
is  carried  out  to  the  city  of  microbes  on  their 
hills  of  rock,  and  we  rely  on  them  to  turn  it 
over  into  a  harmless  mineral  form." 

To  produce  a  still  greater  bacterial  cleans- 
ing, the  effluent,  or  outcoming  liquid,  produced 
by  these  processes  may  be  rapidly  filtered 
through  a  second  filter  of  sand,  or  may  be 
sterilized  by  the  use  of  the  chlorine  of  bleach- 
ing powder.  The  development  of  this  latter 
chemical  process  for  the  purifying  of  water 
has  proved  one  of  the  most  interesting  devel- 
opments of  recent  years.  It  has  been  shown 
that  the  chemical  disinfecting  of  water  gives 
a  very  high  degree  of  bacterial  purification 
at  a  very  low  cost.  In  fact,  the  entire  water-sup- 
ply of  Jersey  City,  N.  J.,  has  been  treated  in 
this  way  for  over  a  year.  Properly  controlled, 
there  seems  to  be  no  evidence  that  the  addition 
of  the  bleaching  powder  in  any  way  injures 
the  water. 

Such  a  process  should  be  excellent  for  high- 
grade  supplies,  where  it  is  desired  to  remove 
even  traces  of  impurities.  It  should  be  espe- 


CITY  WATER  AND  CITY  WASTE     153 

cially  satisfactory  with  good  unfiltered  water 
from  protected  watersheds.  It  has  scarcely 
been  definitely  proven  as  yet  that  it  provides  an 
unfailing  method  of  purifying  polluted  waters. 

The  processes  of  nature  have  much  to  do 
with  any  water-supply,  and  the  rain  falls  in 
greatly  varying  quantities  at  unexpected  sea- 
sons. A  sudden  rush  of  rain  washes  in  quan- 
tities of  solids  and  produces  a  largely  increased 
bacterial  content  in  any  water-supply.  Where 
there  is  any  possibility  of  sewage  reaching  the 
water,  pollution  will  be  far  greater  in  wet  than 
in  dry  times.  An  amount  of  bleaching  powder 
which  would  be  quite  sufficient  to  cleanse 
water  on,  for  example,  363  days  in  the  year, 
might  prove  wholly  inadequate  on  the  364th 
or  365th.  Unless  a  great  excess  of  the  puri- 
fying agent  is  added  constantly,  there  will 
be  unusual  days  which  might  prove  times  of 
peril.  Under  no  circumstances  should  any 
community  be  obliged  intentionally  to  drink 
sewage.  A  water-supply  which  has  been  puri- 
fied by  the  best  methods  known  to-day  is  the 
right  of  every  citizen. 

One  last  method  of  bacterial  destruction  of 
sewage  must  be  considered  here  —  the  septic 
tank,  the  successor  of  the  individual  cesspool. 


154         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

While  impracticable  for  final  disposition,  it 
has  a  decided  value  as  a  preliminary  step 
in  the  treatment  of  certain  concentrated  sew- 
ages. The  principle  of  the  ordinary  cesspool 
depends  upon  the  fact  that  a  large  part  of  the 
solid  organic  wastes  are  acted  upon  in  the 
closed  dark  receptacles,  without  access  of  air, 
by  bacterial  ferments,  and  are  turned  into  li- 
quids which  may  be  drained  off,  or  into  gases 
which  may  escape.  Such  solid  portions  as  are 
unaffected  by  this  change  may  be  removed  a 
couple  of  times  a  year.  In  the  modern  form 
of  septic  tank  the  wastes,  instead  of  being  left 
to  be  acted  on  for  a  long  period  without  the 
use  of  oxygen,  are  run  into  a  close  tank,  where 
they  are  left  for  about  twenty-four  hours. 
During  this  time,  the  chief  decomposition  has 
taken  place,  after  which  the  residues  are 
pumped  to  the  filters  or  contact-beds,  where 
the  final  oxidation  may  occur  by  means  of  the 
oxygen  of  the  air.  The  septic  process  does  not 
produce  a  pure  effluent,  and  it  does  not  effect 
bacterial  reduction  to  any  important  degree.  It 
is  simply  a  method  of  reducing  solids  as  a 
preliminary  to  some  form  of  biological  puri- 
fication. It  is,  however,  a  useful  device  in  its 
proper  place. 


CITY   WATER  AND  CITY  WASTE     155 

We  have  already  considered  the  use  of  the 
household  filter  in  some  detail;  but  the  gen- 
eral problem  of  good  water  and  safe  sewage 
appeals  to  every  owner  of  a  country  house, 
and  a  few  words  on  this  subject  should  be  in- 
serted here.  The  best  soil  for  these  purposes 
is  a  sandy  one,  and  wherever  a  rocky  or  clayey 
soil  gives  possibility  of  a  fissure  which  might 
connect  water  and  drainage,  expert  examina- 
tion should  be  called  in.  The  individual  plant 
for  water  and  sewage  may  often  be  a  well  and  a 
cesspool  —  the  cesspool,  once  a  bogy  to  sanita- 
rians, being  now  justified  by  the  septic  tank  and 
the  sand-filter,  both  of  which  principles  are 
employed  in  its  construction.  Two  points  must 
be  recognized  here.  First,  such  a  covering  of 
the  well  that  the  grave  danger  of  surface  pol- 
lution may  be  avoided,  for  it  is  most  essential 
that  no  pollution  should  be  washed  through 
covering  boards.  Second,  care  with  regard  to 
the  direction  of  drainage.  This  is  generally 
toward  the  nearest  water-course,  and  must  be 
such  that  the  water-supply  may  not  be  below 
the  point  of  sewage-disposal.  With  these 
simple  precautions  of  investigation  of  soil, 
covering  of  well,  and  proper  location  of  the 
direction  of  drainage  water  and  the  source  of 


156        THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

drainage,  the  isolated  country  house-owner 
may  feel  secure. 

As  we  look  over  the  whole  field  of  effort, 
the  striking  factors  of  present-day  progress 
in  bacteria-removal  and  sewage-disposal  seem 
to  be  taking  on  definite  specialized  form.  The 
engineer  is  tending  to  use  one  method  for 
water  —  the  removal  of  evil  bacteria  by  filtra- 
tion. He  is  using  largely  a  different  method 
for  sewage  —  the  cultivation  of  good  bacte- 
ria which  may  render  safe  the  city  by  their 
removal  of  its  dangerous  organic  wastes. 
Removal  of  the  evil  and  cultivation  of  the 
good !  The  most  highly  specialized  forms  of 
water  and  sewage-filters  show  this  best.  The 
mechanical  water-filter  has  chemicals  to  sepa- 
rate out  the  bacteria,  pneumatic  arrangements 
to  wash  out  the  sand,  and  casings  of  concrete 
for  protection  from  the  air.  The  sewage-filter, 
on  the  other  hand,  is,  in  its  essentials,  nothing 
more  than  a  pile  of  rock  on  which  the  good 
bacteria  may  grow.  The  future  advance  of 
sanitary  science  seems  likely  to  be  along  these 
lines.  More  and  more  dependence  is  placed 
upon  research,  and  the  real  importance  of  the 
problem  seems  daily  more  manifest.  The  care- 
ful experiments  at  the  Columbus  Experiment 


CITY  WATER  AND  CITY  WASTE     157 

Station  in  Ohio,  as  well  as  the  noteworthy 
results  obtained  by  the  Sanitary  Research 
Laboratory  which  has  been  established  by  the 
Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology,  show 
the  trend  of  progress. 

To  make  the  city  habitable,  to  increase  the 
efficiency  of  the  state  through  the  better  health 
of  its  citizens  —  what  task  is  higher  than  this 
great  labor  for  the  common  good?  On  the 
man  in  control  of  the  water-system  or  the  sew- 
age-plant rests  the  success  or  failure  of  many 
measures  planned  for  the  public  weal.  In  the 
solution  of  that  great  problem  in  applied  sci- 
ence, the  government  of  the  city,  no  man 
must  bear  a  greater  responsibility  than  the 
sanitary  engineer. 

Such  civic  interest  should  be  awakened  in 
every  community  as  will  demand  that  the 
guardians  of  our  public  health  shall  be  rightly 
trained,  wise,  and  free.  Above  all  free  —  since 
freedom  from  political  control,  from  jealousies 
and  narrowness,  must  be  secured  in  order  that 
full  power  may  be  given  to  the  guardians  of 
the  public  health  to  keep  up  the  fight  until 
the  day  when  final  conquest  comes. 


VI 

ICE 

STRAIGHT  from  the  north  sweeps  down  the 
icy  blast,  cresting  the  snowy  mountain-top, 
clearing  its  rugged  barriers,  and  swaying  to 
rhythmic  pulsations  the  pines  along  the  bor- 
ders of  the  lake.  Day  after  day  the  winds  bear 
down  increasing  burdens  of  cold.  Hour  after 
hour  the  ice-crystals  sink  deeper  and  deeper 
into  the  depths  below.  Then,  when  the  leaden 
skies  are  bordered  with  dull  northern  gold, 
figures  of  men  advance  upon  this  natural  stage, 
whose  background  is  the  majestic  mountain, 
whose  wings  are  forested  with  white-capped 
green.  The  stillness  ends  as  workers,  in  gay 
blanket-coats  or  heavy  corduroys,  harvest  their 
winter  store,  cut  out  huge  squares  upon  the 
surface  of  the  lake,  trace  and  retrace  their 
steps,  moving  like  living  chessmen  in  steps  of 
knight  or  queen.  The  cold  wind  of  the  open 
north  congeals  the  ice.  Hot,  dust-filled  city 
winds  return  it  to  its  liquid  state  once  more. 
Whatever  the  purity  of  the  source,  the  sum- 


ICE  159 

mer  days,  when  the  ice-cars  reach  the  city,  see 
this  common  food  thrust  out  on  dirty  platforms 
through  dirty  chutes,  thrown  into  wagons 
which  stand  open  and  exposed  to  the  dust  of 
the  city  street.  Nor  does  delivery  at  the  door 
end  the  possibility  of  contamination.  Solid 
water  may  turn  to  liquid  water  in  unclean  re- 
frigerators, cool  the  refreshing  drink  of  car, 
of  office,  or  of  street,  in  positively  filthy  water- 
tanks,  or  become  infected  by  the  hand  of  its 
server.  Make  a  personal  experiment :  look  at 
your  own  refrigerator  after  a  hundred  pounds 
of  ice  have  melted,  and  see  whether  or  not  the 
compartment  is  clean. 

Few  of  the  topics  considered  in  this  book 
belong  more  exclusively  to  the  city  than  this  of 
ice.  Food,  air,  and  milk  vary  the  conditions 
of  their  supply  by  the  different  requirements 
of  the  crowded  street  and  the  isolated  farm. 
Ice,  on  the  other  hand,  to-day  as  always,  finds 
its  chief  use  in  the  city.  The  cold  cellar  or 
the  well  still  serves  the  refrigeration  purposes 
of  a  large  portion  of  rural  America.  Where 
ice  is  used  on  the  farm,  it  is  commonly  taken 
directly  from  the  individual  ice-house,  where 
it  has  had  all  the  benefits  which  come  from 
storage  and  few  of  the  disadvantages  which 


160         THE    HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

come  from  handling.  Farm  food,  moreover, 
is  not  only  fresher  and  in  less  need  of  cold 
storage  than  the  city's  supply,  but  it  may  well 
be  possible  that  the  freer  life  of  the  country 
breeds  less  desire  for  cooling  foods  and  drinks 
than  does  the  far  greater  confinement  of  our 
brick-walled  existence.  Certainly,  the  city's 
necessity  for  refrigeration  and  for  ice  is  beyond 
question.  Its  food,  brought  from  long  dis- 
tances and  often  unnaturally  preserved  by  stor- 
age methods,  must  be  chilled  to  be  healthful. 
Its  children,  wearied  by  the  nervous  exhaus- 
tion of  the  streets,  have  a  real  need  of  the 
tinge  of  attractiveness  which  cooled  viands 
provide,  to  obtain  a  sufficient  nourishment. 

No  other  nation  can  compare  with  the  United 
States  in  the  consumption  of  ice.  Its  use  in 
the  Orient  is  limited  chiefly  to  the  foreign 
settlements  and  the  selected  upper  classes; 
while  in  Europe,  though  it  is  used  for  cold 
storage,  its  service  as  a  food  is  relatively  small. 
Even  where  modern  custom  and  the  inroads 
of  American  travelers  have  made  its  presence 
an  every-day  affair  abroad,  the  cooling  drink 
is  offered  the  diner,  but  not  forced  upon  him. 
The  waiter  presents  the  glass  bowl  of  cracked 
ice  for  acceptance  or  rejection.  In  America 


ICE  161 

we  have  no  choice.  If  the  carafe  is  not  full 
of  water  frozen  in  its  place,  the  glass  of  ice- 
water  is  surely  present  at  your  elbow.  Slight 
indeed  is  the  probability  that  we  can  diminish 
the  city's  call  for  ice,  however  loud  the  annual 
outcry  against  its  use.  Granting  that  the 
demand  is  unlikely  to  subside  materially,  let 
us,  in  order  to  determine  what  the  situation 
really  is,  consider,  first,  how  the  purity  of  ice 
is  affected  by  its  formation,  second,  the  pos- 
sibilities of  its  contamination  during  harvest- 
ing, sale,  and  use,  and,  third,  the  way  in  which 
the  present-day  conditions  of  the  ice  trade  con- 
cern the  dwellers  of  the  city. 

City  ice  comes  from  one  of  two  sources:  it 
may  be  produced  naturally  in  river,  lake,  or 
pond,  or  it  may  be  manufactured  artificially 
by  what,  for  want  of  a  better  name,  we  may 
call  cold-storage  methods.  The  formation  of 
natural  ice  is,  in  itself,  one  of  the  strangest 
of  the  thousand  disregarded  phenomena  of 
natural  life.  The  basic  causes  of  that  exam- 
ple of  the  craftsmanship  of  nature  known  as 
crystallization,  of  that  property  of  matter  by 
which  solids  group  themselves  in  the  fairy 
traceries  of  the  snow,  the  gleaming  facets  of 
rock  crystal,  or  the  huge  pillars  of  the  salt 


162         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

mines,  lie  deeply  hidden.  The  effects  of  that 
craftsmanship  we  know,  and  of  those  effects 
few  are  stranger  than  the  selective  process 
which  goes  on  in  crystalline  formations.  Those 
tiny  particles  which  make  up  the  regularly 
formed  crystals  are  able  to  pick  and  choose 
their  associates,  and  refuse  to  accept  for  the 
structure  of  their  walls  substances  unlike 
themselves.  This  is  a  general  rule  which  gov- 
erns many  forms  besides  the  special  one  under 
consideration.  Crystalline  bodies  in  solution 
in  the  foulest  liquids  crystallize  out  in  a  state 
of  purity  so  great  that  analytical  chemistry 
constantly  takes  advantage  of  this  principle 
to  obtain  strictly  pure  materials.  Ice-crystals, 
forming,  will  build  nothing  into  the  icicles 
save  water.  The  effect  of  this  natural  selective 
power  has  a  close  bearing  upon  our  subject. 

Every  lake  or  pond  is  a  great  bowl  holding 
in  solution  and  suspension  many  solid  particles, 
such  as  the  tiny  bacterial  plants  which  inhabit 
its  depths,  the  refuse  of  the  shores,  and  por- 
tions of  the  solid  matter  of  the  bottom.  When 
the  falling  mercury  plunges  below  the  freez- 
ing-point, the  contents  of  these  huge  bowls 
suffer  a  sudden  change.  Tiny  six-sided  crystals 
shoot  forth  upon  the  surface,  join  side  by 


ICE  163 

side,  and  take  up  so  much  more  space  than 
the  water  from  which  they  come,  that  the  ex- 
panded ice  is  often  thrust  up  upon  the  banks. 
If  substances  like  straw,  chips,  or  refuse  are 
floating  on  or  near  the  surface  of  the  water 
when  the  change  takes  place,  such  solid  bodies 
will  be  imbedded,  mechanically  caught,  be- 
tween the  crystals,  in  the  same  fashion  that 
a  ball  is  caught  between  two  clasping  hands. 
There  is  the  first  possibility  of  ice-contamina- 
tion. A  considerable  amount  of  light  straw 
and  refuse  is  likely  to  be  floating  upon  or  near 
the  surface.  The  greater  part  of  this,  good 
and  bad,  pure  and  impure,  is  entangled  in  this 
upper  sheet. 

Below  the  surface  of  the  liquid  quite  an- 
other condition  holds  good.  The  ground  at 
the  sides  and  bottom  is  a  non-conductor  of 
heat.  In  consequence,  ice  can  form  only  at 
the  top,  and  the  solid  mass  must  grow  verti- 
cally downward  from  the  surface.  As  the  cold 
increases,  the  tiny  crystals,  forcing  their  way 
through  the  water,  shoot  towards  the  bottom 
like  icicles  on  the  eaves  of  a  house.  Each 
pointing  icy  finger,  as  it  pushes  its  way  down- 
ward, constantly  rejects  all  other  substances 
besides  water,  forces  floating  bacteria  and  other 


solids  steadily  back,  builds  water  and  only 
•water  into  its  structure.  Since  the  whole  mass 
is  made  up  of  millions  of  individual  crystals, 
those  solids,  and  only  those  solids,  which  are 
mechanically  entangled  between  these  indi- 
vidual crystals  appear  in  the  final  cake  of  ice. 
Such  impurities  are  comparatively  few  below 
the  topmost  crust.  In  consequence,  the  greater 
part  of  the  ice  is  cleansed  by  this  process. 
The  old  theory  that  "frozen  water  purifies 
itself  "  is  true  so  far  as  crystallization  below 
the  surface  (notice  those  three  words)  is  con- 
cerned. 

Crystallization  is  not  the  only  mechanical 
factor  which  tends  to  clear  ice  from  impurities. 
Once  the  cold  lake  is  covered  with  its  glitter- 
ing shield,  the  water  below  is  no  longer  ruffled 
by  the  wind,  and  is  practically  undisturbed  by 
the  changes  in  weight  due  to  expansion  and 
contraction.  Under  such  circumstances  a  lake 
or  pond  tends  to  become  a  still  pool  in  which 
all  floating  matter  which  is  heavier  than  the 
liquid  in  which  it  rests  is  persistently  pulled 
downward,  is  constantly  sinking  toward  the 
bottom.  To  state  it  in  a  different  form :  once 
the  water's  surface  is  chained  in  place,  the 
never-resting  force  of  gravity,  then  unopposed 


ICE  165 

by  many  resisting  forces,  such  as  wind  and 
wave,  goes  steadily  to  work  to  pull  the  solid 
matter  in  suspension  away  from  the  upper 
layers  of  the  liquid  into  which  the  ice  is  ex- 
tending. The  tiny  micro-organisms  which  are 
responsible  for  water-borne  disease  are  slightly 
heavier  than  water.  They  are  borne  down  also. 
The  force  of  gravity,  which  drags  them  down, 
works  with  crystallization  to  free  the  lower 
portions  of  natural  ice  from  its  impurities. 

The  floating  matter  of  the  surface  makes 
but  one  portion  of  trouble.  Men  and  horses, 
passing  over  the  ice  in  harvesting,  track  in  no 
small  amount  of  dirt  of  various  kinds.  If  the 
ice  is  harvested  from  ponds  below  the  snow- 
line,  dust-filled  winds  from  neighboring  streets 
may  cover  it.  If  it  comes  from  lakes  near 
manufactories,  refuse  from  the  plant  may  be 
blown  out  upon  it.  If  snowfalls  and  slight 
thaws  come,  the  snow  and  ice,  melting  to- 
gether, produce  snow-ice,  the  white  opaque 
form  known  to  all.  Snow  is  by  no  means  a 
welcome  addition.  It  holds  readily  all  solids 
which  fall  upon  it,  and,  crystalline  as  it  is, 
falling  snow  serves  as  a  filter  to  the  air,  en- 
tangling and  enmeshing  bacteria  and  dust  as 
it  falls  from  the  heavens  to  the  earth.  Snow- 


166         THE  HEALTH   OF  THE  CITY 

ice  is  to  be  avoided.  The  upper  crust  of  ice  is 
dangerous  for  use. 

The  conditions  mentioned  heretofore  have 
been  produced  by  comparatively  normal  con- 
ditions of  ice-formation  and  of  harvesting. 
The  ice- dealer  has  little  share  in  producing 
them.  The  dealer,  however,  can  make  trouble 
for  the  consumer  who  desires  purity  by  joining 
thin  sheets  to  form  thick  cakes.  In  mild  win- 
ters, when  the  ponds  where  ice  is  generally 
cut  do  not  freeze  to  a  sufficient  depth  to  give  a 
satisfactory  cake,  narrow  sheets  are  sometimes 
cut  and  packed  together  in  such  a  fashion  as 
to  give  a  doubled  cake.  Under  such  circum- 
stances, two  upper  layers  with  their  impurities 
often  come  together  in  the  centre  of  the  cake, 
and  give  out  their  combined  dirt  when  the  ice 
melts. 

From  filth  produced  or  preserved  in  some 
such  fashion  as  those  mentioned  above  comes 
a  large  part  of  the  mud  which  fouls  your  ice- 
compartment,  or  leaves  a  line  of  black  scum 
in  your  glass  of  water.  Difficult  though  it  is 
to  bring  a  direct  charge  of  typhoid  infection 
against  these  sources,  there  is  a  perfectly  rea- 
sonable probability  that  many  cases  of  intes- 
tinal diseases  have  originated  in  such  dirty 


ICE  167 

masses.  And  cleanliness  in  this  respect  is  di- 
rectly within  the  control  of  the  health  authori- 
ties of  the  community.  Since  individual  con- 
sumers of  ice  are  unlikely  to  be  able  to  stop 
the  selling  of  upper-layer,  snow,  and  doubled- 
layer  ice,  the  city  should  keep  such  ice  from 
reaching  the  homes  of  its  citizens.  Demand 
that  this  slight  layer,  which  contains  the  dirt, 
be  planed  off ;  let  the  sale  of  dirty  ice  be  for- 
bidden by  enforced  official  act ;  and  conditions 
will  rapidly  improve.  Every  consumer  recog- 
nizes clear  ice  at  a  glance.  Inspection  is  no 
difficult  matter. 

When  we  look  over  our  data  thus  far  ob- 
tained, we  find  many  hopeful  signs.  It  is  true 
that  the  free  ice  of  the  north  may  become  con- 
taminated by  the  foreign  matter  of  its  crust, 
or  by  the  burden  of  snow-ice;  but  it  is  equally 
true  that  two  cleansing  agencies  are  unceas- 
ingly at  work,  crystallization  and  the  force  of 
gravity.  It  is  within  the  power  of  man  to  use 
a  third,  the  planing  of  the  ice.  The  artificial 
ice  of  the  factory  has  been  much  heralded  as 
an  advance  upon  nature.  Before  passing  to  a 
relation  of  the  researches  and  discoveries  which 
bear  upon  our  problem,  suppose  we  compare 
the  two. 


168 

If  the  ingenious  Yankee  who  first  conceived 
the  possibility  of  sending  Wenham  ice  to  trop- 
ical lands  could  return  to  view  the  results  of 
his  handiwork,  he  would  be  amazed  indeed  to 
observe  the  results  of  the  trade  begun  so  many 
years  ago.  Once  the  torrid  zone  had  tasted  ice, 
the  development  of  the  artificial  supply  was 
inevitable.  To-day,  the  ice-machine,  its  bene- 
fits long  since  extended  far  beyond  the  bound- 
aries of  the  tropics,  is  used  the  world  over 
where  any  deficiency  in  the  supply  of  natural 
ice  exists.  As  the  problems  of  artificial  ice  are 
closely  connected  with  the  processes  of  manu- 
facture, a  word  concerning  these  processes 
may  be  of  service  here. 

One  point  should  be  noted  here  before  going 
farther.  Ammonia  is  much  used  in  the  produc- 
tion of  artificial  ice.  The  ammonia  referred 
to  in  the  following  paragraph  is  not  the  com- 
mon household  ammonia.  It  is  the  liquefied 
anhydrous  ammonia  gas  of  the  cold-storage 
plant.  With  that  point  clarified,  we  may  turn 
to  our  description. 

The  making  of  artificial  ice  depends  on  the 
fact  that  certain  liquids,  like  ammonia,  turn 
to  gases  at  low  temperatures,  absorbing  heat 
from  everything  around.  If  you  had  a  stop- 


ICE  169 

pered  bottle  of  liquid  ammonia  in  a  pail  of 
water,  and  suddenly  released  the  stopper,  the 
liquid  would  turn  to  a  gas,  and  the  absorption 
of  heat  in  the  process  would  so  chill  the  sur- 
rounding water  as  to  turn  it  to  ice.  This  is 
one  variety  of  the  many  natural  changes  which 
absorb  heat  and,  in  so  doing,  chill  surround- 
ing bodies.  The  commonest  change  of  this 
kind  that  we  know  takes  place  when  the  ice 
and  salt  of  the  ice-cream  freezer  take  heat  from 
the  liquid  in  the  can  and  chill  it  to  solid  ice- 
cream. In  the  case  under  consideration  here, 
if  you  have  brine  around  the  inner  bottle,  when 
the  liquid  ammonia  changes  to  gas,  instead 
of  water,  the  brine  remains  liquid,  but  is  so 
chilled  that  it  would  freeze  a  glass  of  water 
placed  within  its  bounds.  This  second  indirect 
method  of  freezing,  that  is,  chilling  brine  by 
the  ammonia  or  some  like  process,  and  allowing 
the  cooling  solution  to  freeze  water,  is  the  one 
employed  in  making  artificial  ice.  The  water 
to  be  frozen  may  be  placed  in  tanks  in  the 
cold  brine,  or  may  be  allowed  to  run  continu- 
ously down  a  trough,  bordered  on  each  side 
by  tubes  of  cold  solution.  In  the  first  case,  the 
ice  freezes  solidly  in  blocks.  In  the  second, 
ice  is  continually  formed  at  the  sides,  but  the 


170         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

liquid  never  solidifies  to  the  centre.  There  is 
always  a  stream  of  water  flowing  between  the 
cakes  of  ice.  One  point  more :  when  the  cold 
brine  is  pumped  through  pipes  to  refrigera- 
tors and  warehouses,  a  cold-storage  system 
is  formed. 

Our  special  interest  in  the  artificial  process 
has  mainly  to  do  with  its  cleanliness,  or  lack 
of  cleanliness,  as  related  to  the  methods  used 
by  nature.  In  general,  forced  freezing  com- 
pares unfavorably  with  the  natural  processes 
already  mentioned.  If  the  water  used  in  such 
manufacture  is  ordinary  city  water,  the  excel- 
lence of  the  ice  will  be  in  direct  proportion  to 
the  excellence  of  the  water.  And  the  excellence 
of  the  water-supply  should  be  strongly  insisted 
upon,  for  the  forces  that  cleanse  natural  ice 
can  do  but  little  to  free  artificial  ice  from  its 
impurities.  Where  water  is  frozen  from  a  con- 
tinuous stream,  gravity  has  little  chance  to 
purify  the  ice.  Where  water  is  frozen  in  blocks, 
crystallization  does  nothing  to  make  the  solid 
better  than  the  liquid.  Artificial  ice,  frozen 
in  a  solid  block,  freezes  from  the  outside  in, 
and  remains  liquid  in  the  centre  to  the  last. 
Because  of  this,  any  solids  present  are  driven 
back  towards  the  centre.  In  the  case  of  natu- 


ICE  171 

ral  ice,  the  impurities,  driven  downward,  sink 
into  the  water  below.  In  the  case  of  artificial 
ice,  after  they  have  reached  the  centre,  they 
are  frozen  solidly  into  the  block.  Moreover, 
this  natural  freezing  inward  gathers  all  the 
impurities  into  the  centre  of  the  block,  thereby 
making  possible  all  the  dangers  which  come 
from  concentration  as  opposed  to  dilution. 
Several  methods  have  been  employed  to  do 
away  with  this  difficulty  where  the  water-sup- 
ply is  questionable.  One  needs  special  mention, 
the  tapping  of  the  cakes  (just  after  the  final 
solid  freezing)  in  order  to  remove  polluted 
water.  Reliance  cannot  be  placed  on  any  such 
alternative  as  this. 

Artificial  ice  made  from  impure  water  must 
always  be  of  dubious  purity.  Even  where  dis- 
tilled water,  probably  the  safest  alternative, 
is  used,  one  precaution  should  be  taken.  The 
stills  should  not  contain  lead  pipe.  The  danger 
of  lead-poisoning  in  ice  is  quite  as  great  as 
the  peril  of  similar  poisoning  in  water.  One 
and  only  one  way  provides  safety,  —  freez- 
ing pure  water  delivered  through  pipes  unaf- 
fected by  water's  dissolving  powers.  A  former 
custom,  now  fortunately  somewhat  gone  by, 
of  serving  raw  oysters  in  hollowed,  melting 


172         THE  HEALTH   OF  THE  CITY 

blocks  of  ice,  succeeded,  when  the  artificial 
form  was  used,  in  laying  the  food  at  the  one 
point  where  whatever  infectious  material  might 
be  present  was  chiefly  gathered. 

Closely  related  to  the  production  of  artificial 
ice  is  the  growing  use  of  cold  storage,  probably 
the  best  method  of  refrigeration  yet  discov- 
ered. The  large  markets  of  our  cities  depend 
almost  exclusively  upon  systems  which  pump 
chilled  brine  through  stall  after  stall  and 
shop  after  shop.  In  these,  the  former  custom 
of  placing  food-supplies  in  immediate  contact 
with  ice  is  rapidly  changing.  A  number  of 
the  new  apartment  houses  have  recently  pro- 
vided refrigerators  for  their  tenants,  which 
are  cooled  by  cold-storage  systems  running 
out  from  small  central  plants ;  and  there  would 
seem  to  be  no  reason  why  the  extension  of 
such  advantages  to  whole  blocks  and  streets 
in  crowded  quarters  might  not  be  practicable. 
It  is  a  possibility  well  worth  consideration. 

Somewhat  reversing  the  normal  sequence, 
we  have  so  far  considered  ice  the  final  product. 
We  can  scarcely  pass  to  the  second  stage  of 
our  argument  without  a  word  concerning 
water,  the  source  from  which  the  product 


ICE  173 

springs.  It  can  hardly  be  repeated  too  often 
that  the  city's  problem,  as  it  has  to  do  with 
water,  concerns  not  the  liquid  itself,  but  the 
tiny  plants  which  live  within  its  depths ;  that 
the  possibility  of  water-borne  disease  arises 
from  floating  micro-organic  forms.  Bacterial 
life  is  lived  under  widely  varying  conditions. 
Even  with  a  common  environment,  great  di- 
versity appears ;  and  the  investigator  of  bac- 
terial populations  often  finds  wide  variations 
in  the  numbers  present  in  a  given  area,  even 
where  the  surrounding  conditions  seem  appar- 
ently much  the  same.  Thickly  clustered,  liv- 
ing masses  of  organisms  may  appear  in  one 
part  of  a  lake  where  other  portions  show  only 
widely  scattered  individuals  and  minute  colo- 
nies. So  men  may  be  found  crowding  together 
in  the  masses  of  London's  huddled  slums, 
and  living  the  widely  scattered  individualistic 
life  of  the  African  desert.  And  as  human 
criminals  are  found  far  from  the  haunts  of 
men  and  in  the  city  street,  so  the  micro-organ- 
isms of  disease  may  be  found  wherever  man 
may  spread  infection.  Yet  disease  caused  by 
dangerous  organisms  must  always  come  chiefly 
from  dense  micro-organic  growths  and  heavily 
infected  liquids. 


174         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

Natural  ice  offers  no  very  favorable  oppor- 
tunity for  the  continued  life  of  even  crowded 
bacterial  communities.  In  another  chapter  I 
have  spoken  of  three  things  favorable  to  bac- 
terial existence,  —  warmth,  nourishment,  and 
darkness.  Not  one  of  these  is  present  in  pond, 
river,  or  pool  when  ice  is  forming.  Light 
streams  through  the  glasslike  coating  into 
the  depths  beneath.  Bitter  cold  tends  to  shrivel 
and  destroy  plant-life.  Nourishment  is  scant 
in  winter  waters.  The  environment  in  which 
these  tiny  bits  of  animate  creation  must  carry 
on  their  struggle  for  existence  seems  forbidding 
in  the  extreme.  Their  life  must  be  difficult 
enough  in  the  cold  liquid.  How  much  more 
difficult  it  would  seem  to  be  when  the  fragile 
plants  freeze  into  hard  unyielding  ice  whose  ex- 
pansive force  rends  iron  shells  apart  and  splits 
the  granite  rock.  No  tale  of  life  in  Arctic  snows 
could  be  more  fascinating  than  the  story  of  that 
microscopic  struggle  for  survival  in  the  bitter 
chill,  observing  that  struggle  simply  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  ordinary  observer.  But  its 
relation  has  an  interest  far  more  immediately 
personal  than  this,  and  one  which  concerns  di- 
rectly our  immediate  question.  "  Is  city  ice  safe 
for  use?  If  not,  what  can  be  done  toward  its 


ICE  175 

betterment?"  We  have  already  answered  some 
portion  of  that  question  in  our  discussion  of 
ice-formation.  The  rest  of  the  answer  must 
depend  upon  the  scientific  labors  of  the  hand- 
ful of  men  who  have  attacked  this  problem 
from  its  bacteriological  standpoint. 

In  this  day  of  hurrying  clamor  for  reform, 
when  journals  leap  into  the  arena  thirsting 
for  the  blood  of  modern  dragons  of  corruption 
one  evening,  and  forget  the  next  morning 
that  such  strange  monsters  ever  existed ;  when 
every  conceivable  form  of  legislative  regula- 
tion is  gravely  and  soberly  proposed ;  it  is  well 
to  consider  what  touchstone  may  be  found  to 
give  us  some  foundation  for  our  beliefs,  to  en- 
able us  to  act  wisely  and  justly ;  for  wisdom 
and  justice  are  sometimes  difficult  to  obtain 
even  by  legislative  decree.  It  is  fortunate 
that,  in  our  work  for  the  health  of  the  city, 
we  may  settle  many  disputed  points  once  for 
all  by  an  appeal  to  the  laws  of  nature  as  they 
are  demonstrated  in  the  laboratory.  Any  dis- 
cussion for  or  against  present-day  ice  condi- 
tions, for  example,  should  rest  either  upon 
the  records  of  past  researches  or  the  under- 
taking of  new.  The  results  of  careful  research 
should  form  the  basis  for  the  formulation  of 


176         THE  HEALTH   OF  THE   CITY 

laws  or  regulations  intended  for  the  better- 
ment of  conditions.  We  cannot  afford  the  time 
to-day  for  discussion  not  based  upon  experi- 
mentation. 

An  advertising  scheme,  widely  heralded  in 
recent  time,  portrays  the  manner  in  which 
much  of  the  experimentation  on  ice  has  been 
carried  on.  Some  ingenious  press-agent,  de- 
siring to  show  the  indifference  of  his  particular 
watches  to  heat  and  cold,  froze  timepieces  in 
blocks  of  artificial  ice.  The  result  of  his  efforts 
is  evident  to  any  passer-by  who  notices  an 
eager  group  pressing  their  noses  against  the 
jeweler's  window  and  watching  hour-hand  and 
minute-hand  moving  over  the  white  dials  quite 
without  regard  to  their  unaccustomed  frozen 
environment.  The  watch-manufacturer  freezes 
watches  in  blocks  of  ice.  The  bacteriologists 
have  frozen  the  bacteria  which  inhabit  water 
in  tubes  of  ice,  or,  reproducing  nature  in  the 
laboratory,  have  frozen  purposely-infected 
waters  from  the  top  downward. 

Less  than  forty  years  reach  between  the 
two  extremes  of  the  quest.  The  beginning  of 
the  work  was  marked  by  the  publications  of 
two  men :  of  Dr.  Nichols,  who  reported  the 
first  recognized  ice-epidemic,  and  of  Burdon- 


ICE  177 

Sanderson,  who  discovered  that  melted  ice  or 
snow  contained  living  micro-organic  growths. 
The  end  may  be  said  to  have  been  reached  in 
the  comparatively  recent  work  of  Park  of  New 
York,  of  Hill  of  the  Boston  Board  of  Health, 
and  of  Sedgwick  and  Winslow.  From  first  to 
last,  nearly  a  hundred  students  have  published 
papers  on  the  kindred  subjects  of  the  epide- 
miology of  ice  and  the  life  of  the  bacteria  at 
low  temperatures.  Cycle  by  cycle,  those  indi- 
vidual researches  fall  into  a  series  of  groups. 
The  early  work  of  Burdon-Sanderson,  of 
Cohn,  of  Leidy,  of  Pohl,  and  of  Hey  roth,  like 
that  of  several  other  pioneers,  had  a  single 
aim,  to  determine  whether  or  not  bacteria 
could  exist  in  naturally  frozen  water.  In  every 
case,  these  investigators  inoculated  sterile  me- 
dia (nourishing  liquids  or  solids  which  were 
wholly  free  from  micro-organic  life)  with  natu- 
ral snow  and  ice,  and  then  observed  the  sub- 
sequent growth  of  bacteria.  Pohl  studied  ice 
from  the  Neva.  Heyroth  investigated  the  sup- 
ply of  Berlin.  The  Massachusetts  State  Board 
of  Health  in  1889  analyzed  two  hundred  and 
thirty-eight  samples  of  natural  ice;  and  the 
supplies  of  London,  of  Paris,  of  Vienna,  and 
of  other  cities  received  attention.  Bacteria 


178         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

were  found  in  every  case.  Scofone,  on  a  sci- 
entific expedition  to  Monte  Rosa,  even  found 
small  quantities  of  bacteria  at  heights  more 
than  seven  thousand  feet  above  the  surface 
of  the  sea.  This  preliminary  cycle  of  investi- 
gation developed  the  first  part  of  the  general 
thesis.  It  proved  that  naturally  frozen  water 
could  contain  living  micro-organisms.  It  did 
not  test  results  by  the  essential  touchstone  of 
quantitative  methods.  Knowledge  of  the  num- 
ber of  bacteria  before  and  after  freezing  is  the 
only  thing  which  will  give  definite  answers 
regarding  the  persistence  of  germ-life  or  the 
resulting  danger  from  these  forms.  This  in- 
formation, could  not  be  obtained  by  any  single 
counting  of  bacteria.  Only  by  many  countings 
of  the  number  present  before  freezing,  and  of 
the  numbers  left  after  various  periods  of  time 
spent  in  the  frozen  state,  could  really  valuable 
and  decisive  results  be  obtained. 

The  group  of  experimenters  who  took  up 
the  work  in  what  might  be  termed  the  second 
cycle  did  not  obtain  this  necessary  numerical 
knowledge,  but,  despite  this,  were  able  to 
carry  the  investigation  some  distance  forward. 
Instead  of  working  with  natural  snow  and 
ice,  they  froze  solutions  filled  with  bacteria, 


ICE  179 

and  submitted  them,  not  only  to  freezing 
temperatures,  but  to  degrees  of  cold  far  below 
that  of  ice.  Von  Frisch,  Pictet  and  Young, 
D'Arsonval,  Charrin,  Ravenel,  Janowsky,  and 
others  studied  the  problem  by  exposing  cul- 
tures of  bacteria  to  temperatures  ranging  from 
10°  to  400°  Fahrenheit  below  the  freezing- 
point  of  water.  All  proved  that  bacterial  life 
could  exist  even  when  seemingly  hardier  or- 
ganisms perished,  but  each  secured  his  results 
by  the  use  of  bacteria  living  in  rich  and  nour- 
ishing media,  a  condition  vastly  different  from 
the  normal  life  of  micro-organisms  imbedded 
in  ice.  This  fact,  that  bacteria  lived  in  severe 
cold  when  supplied  with  ample  nourishment, 
told  only  part  of  the  story.  Not  only  that, 
but  the  results  of  the  second  cycle  of  inves- 
tigation, from  which  came  a  more  or  less 
general  belief  that  frozen  water  did  nothing 
to  free  itself  from  impurities,  were  incomplete 
and  unsatisfactory  for  another  vital  reason. 
Strangely  enough,  this  body  of  investigators 
had  not  yet  reached  the  point  of  testing  their 
results  by  quantitative  numerical  work :  they 
still  relied  on  qualitative  tests. 

Few  things  are  more  essential  to  the  city 
than  for  its  citizens  to  acquire  some  measure 


180         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

of  the  modern  scientist's  reliance  upon  quanti- 
tative methods ;  for  despite  the  fact  that  in  the 
differentiation  between  qualitative  and  quan- 
titative we  find  a  distinction  old  as  the  race  it- 
self, the  average  person  pays  little  attention  to 
quantitative  results.  Qualitative  experiment  is 
like  aboriginal  cooking,  where  quantities  are 
unconsidered  and  the  prepared  food  may  vary 
through  all  degrees  from  bad  to  good.  Quanti- 
tative experiment,  with  its  possibilities  of  good 
results,  has  existed  since  that  moment  in  the 
dawn  of  civilization  when  primeval  woman  first 
measured  out  her  breadstuffs  in  a  stone  cup, 
and,  trying  different  quantities,  finally  reached 
a  definite  amount  which  would  serve  her  as 
a  standard  for  her  later  production  of  good 
bread.  Progress  has  always  passed  through 
what  happens  to  how  much  happens ;  from 
gathering  crops  at  random  to  the  computation 
of  bushels  per  acre ;  from  the  stifling  heat 
and  foul  air  of  the  old  school-rooms  to  the 
proper  number  of  cubic  feet  of  fresh  air  per 
individual  in  the  new ;  from  the  general  fact 
that  cold  will  not  kill  entire  bacterial  popula- 
tions to  the  exact  numerical  part  which  the  cold 
of  ice  plays  in  limiting  or  partially  cutting 
off  the  numbers  of  the  micro-organisms  present. 


ICE  181 

Such  a  change  from  qualitative  to  quanti- 
tative methods  characterizes  the  third  cycle  of 
the  researches  on  ice.  Frankland,  Pengra, 
Frankel,  and  others  had  made  isolated  efforts 
at  obtaining  numerical  results ;  but  it  was  left 
to  Dr.  Prudden  of  New  York  to  consider  the 
problem  for  the  first  time  by  the  use  of  care- 
ful quantitative  methods,  used  with  relation 
to  certain  specific  micro-organisms  of  disease. 
Using  an  analogy  with  the  study  of  men, 
we  may  say  that  Prudden's  work  marked  the 
point  where  this  research  passed  from  general 
anthropology  to  specific  criminology.  For  the 
first  time  the  purpose  of  an  investigator  bore 
directly  upon  those  germs  which  are  respon- 
sible for  water-borne  disease.  Using  definite 
counted  numbers  of  bacteria,  and  observing 
their  endurance,  their  period  of  life,  under 
frozen  conditions,  Prudden  determined  that 
many  bacteria  were  killed  by  freezing,  that 
different  species  are  very  differently  affected 
by  the  cold,  that  alternate  freezing  and  thaw- 
ing are  likely  to  be  fatal,  and  that  the  number 
killed  increases  as  the  length  of  time  in  a 
frozen  condition  is  prolonged. 

Prudden's  results,  excellent  as  they  were, 
left  much  to  be  desired.  There  were  various 


182         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE   CITY 

possibilities  of  error  in  1887,  when  this  work 
was  done.  Methods  of  bacteriological  work 
had  not  reached  the  degree  of  excellence  after- 
wards obtained,  and  the  general  knowledge 
of  sanitary  science  had  increased  enormously 
during  the  twelve  years  which  elapsed  before 
Sedgwick  and  Winslow  began  their  research 
in  the  biological  laboratories  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Institute  of  Technology  with  regard  to 
the  "  effect  of  freezing  and  other  low  temper- 
atures upon  the  viability  [the  capacity  of  liv- 
ing] of  the  bacillus  of  typhoid  fever,  with 
considerations  regarding  ice  as  a  vehicle  of 
infectious  disease." 

In  this  investigation,  for  the  first  time,  bac- 
teriological research  on  ice  was  concentrated 
in  such  a  way  as  to  apply  directly  to  the  im- 
mediate service  of  man.  Although  Prudden 
had  used  pathogenic  germs  (the  micro-organ- 
isms which  cause  disease),  his  labors  had 
been  confined  largely  to  comparisons  of  vari- 
ous bacilli.  Now,  as  a  student  of  the  criminal 
classes  might  specialize  on  a  single  branch  of 
his  subject,  such  as  forgery,  so  the  present 
consideration  narrowed  down  to  the  one  chief 
water-borne  disease  of  the  temperate  zone, 
typhoid  fever. 


ICE  183 

Three  striking  results  appeared  as  the  ex- 
periment progressed.  First,  as  regards  the  per 
cent  of  micro-organisms  which  perished  as  the 
time  of  endurance  of  cold  continued.  Fifty  per 
cent  of  the  total  number  died  in  half  an  hour. 
Less  than  one  per  cent  of  the  total  number 
survived  after  fourteen  days.  Beyond  that 
time-limit,  a  slow,  steady  reduction  continued 
until  either  every  micro-organism  perished,  or 
the  numbers  of  the  bacilli  were  diminished  to 
an  apparently  irreducible  minimum. 

In  duration  of  time,  then,  —  in  the  stor- 
age that  ice  receives  in  the  ice-house,  to  put  it 
more  practically,  —  is  to  be  found  one  of  the 
greatest  factors  in  the  elimination  of  what 
might  be  called  the  internal  organic  life  of  ice. 
We  have  already  considered  how  crystallization 
and  gravity  work  towards  that  end.  We  shall 
see  in  a  moment  how  this  research  brought 
the  conclusions  on  that  subject  to  a  laboratory 
basis.  Here  we  have  figures  which  relate  di- 
rectly to  the  storage  factor,  to  the  length  of 
time  ice  must  be  stored  before  its  dangerous 
bacteria  die.  Practically  all  the  natural  ice 
which  comes  to  the  city  is  stored  for  weeks  or 
months  before  use.  Time  is  a  great  factor  in 
stamping  out  the  micro-organisms  of  disease. 


184        THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

Able  as  many  are  to  endure  low  tempera- 
tures for  brief  spaces  of  time,  tbe  greater  part 
of  them  die  under  long  exposure  to  the  cold. 
A  second  fact  appeared  upon  investigation. 
Prudden  had  already  noted  that  the  number 
of  bacteria  killed  by  freezing  varied  with  the 
species,  that  such  tiny  organisms  as  the  ironi- 
cally named  Bacillus  pro digiosus  lived  their 
life  in  their  icy  world  in  a  different  way  from 
the  Bacillus  typhi.  Now  came  the  conclusion, 
not  only  that  different  species  of  bacteria 
were  differently  affected  by  the  same  condi- 
tions of  cold,  but  also  that  within  the  limits  of 
a  single  species  existed  distinct  races  marked  by 
strongly  variant  powers  of  resistance.  Four  sep- 
arate races  —  which  the  experimenters  named 
A,  B,  C,  D  —  were  considered.  All  were  pre- 
sumably of  the  same  typhoid  type.  Striking 
differences,  however,  appeared  between  them. 
Race  C  succumbed  to  the  cold  far  more  readily 
than  Race  B.  Races  A  and  D  were  neither  as 
weak  as  Race  C,  nor  as  strong  as  B.  Similar 
variations  showed  in  the  growth  of  each  indi- 
vidual race ;  and  the  conclusion  was  finally 
reached  that  in  different  races  of  a  single  bac- 
terial species  the  number  killed  varies  with  the 
race.  As  in  the  case  of  man,  we  can  observe  the 


ICE  185 

varied  resistance  which  Northerner  and  South- 
erner offer  against  the  invasion  of  cold  and 
heat ;  as  we  see  the  Negro  living  and  flour- 
ishing in  climates  which  destroy  the  white 
man ;  so  we  may  see  that  one  alien  bacterial 
stock  dies  out  in  an  unaccustomed  clime  where 
another  persists. 

Important  as  are  the  conclusions  arrived  at 
concerning  the  purifying  effect  of  storage, 
another  part  of  the  research  bears  peculiarly 
closely  upon  the  public  health  —  that  which 
regards  the  "  effects  of  sedimentation  and  crys- 
tallization during  the  freezing  of  typhoid-fever 
bacilli  in  water."  The  work  of  every  early 
investigator  was  marked  by  a  common  error, 
—  the  conditions  under  which  the  bacteria 
were  frozen  were  not  the  same  as  those  which 
obtained  in  the  formation  of  natural  ice.  The 
culture-tubes  were  frozen  in  a  solid  block, 
a  way  in  which  natural  ice  never  freezes.  In 
this  case  an  attempt  was  made  to  copy  the 
work  of  nature  rather  than  to  follow  that  of 
previous  experimenters  along  the  same  line. 
Heretofore,  the  purification  of  the  free  ice  of 
the  lake  solidifying  under  the  winter  sky  had 
received  but  little  attention  from  the  men  who 
observed  bacterial  life  in  the  ice-tubes  of  the 


186 

laboratory.  Make  one  exception,  —  the  pre- 
sence in  natural  water  of  multitudes  of  hostile 
infusoria,  tiniest  of  scavengers,  who  may  de- 
vour forests  of  microscopic  plants  which  grav- 
ity is  drawing  towards  the  bottom,  —  and  all 
the  natural  circumstances  surrounding  ice-for- 
mation were  reproduced  in  this  research. 

This  portion  of  the  investigation  offers  an 
excellent  demonstration  of  the  hypothesis  that, 
if  natural  phenomena  are  to  be  subjected  to  lab- 
oratory examination,  natural  conditions  must 
be  duplicated.  Certainly,  no  reference  to  the 
necessity  for  exact  duplication  of  nature's  pro- 
cesses appears  in  the  fairly  extensive  literature 
collected  for  this  chapter  up  to  the  time  that 
the  Sedgwick  and  Winslow  research  is  reached. 
The  way  in  which  the  inherent  difficulties  of 
this  problem  were  overcome  was  most  ingenious. 
Placing  about  ten  gallons  of  sterile  water  in  a 
caref  ully  jacketed  wine  cask,  the  experimenters 
inoculated  the  liquid  with  typhoid  bacilli  and 
exposed  the  cask  to  temperatures  below  the 
freezing-point.  The  jacketing  of  the  sides 
and  bottom  of  the  cask  produced  a  condition 
similar  to  that  of  a  natural  pond.  Cold  could 
enter  only  at  the  top.  The  ice  could  grow  in 
but  one  direction,  downward.  Natural  condi- 


ICE  187 

tions  were  reproduced,  and  it  was  found  that 
the  ice  contained  about  one  tenth  as  many 
bacteria  as  inhabited  the  water  below.  The 
tendency  of  natural  ice  to  purify  itself  by 
the  aid  of  gravity  and  crystallization  had  been 
demonstrated  under  laboratory  conditions. 

Three  conclusions  may  be  drawn  from  this 
research.  First,  one  race  of  a  certain  pathogenic 
germ  may  persist  where  another  dies.  Second, 
whatever  the  persistence  of  any  race,  exposure 
to  long-continued  cold,  such  as  takes  place  in 
the  natural  storage  of  ice,  cuts  the  numbers 
of  the  bacteria  to  a  very  low  quantity.  Third, 
crystallization  reduces  the  numbers  in  nearly 
as  great  a  proportion  as  storage.  Since  crys- 
tallization and  gravity  exclude  90%  of  the 
organisms  present  in  any  germ-body  of  water, 
cold  and  storage  combined  exclude  almost  99%. 
When  these  factors  are  added  together,  as 
they  ordinarily  are,  we  may  reasonably  con- 
clude that  ice  so  formed  is  safe,  provided  we 
hold  to  our  original  criticism  of  the  topmost 
layer.  There  the  number  of  micro-organisms 
may  be  so  great  as  to  defy  the  destructive 
agencies.  The  common  belief  that  disease- 
germs  may  live  for  months  in  ordinary  clear 
natural  ice  seems  unfounded,  and  the  empha- 


188         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

sis  is  placed  on  a  new  point,  the  possibility  of 
the  contamination  of  ice  through  human  car- 
riers and  unclean  resting-places. 

Scarcely  another  article  of  human  con- 
sumption receives  so  much  direct  handling 
just  before  its  use  as  does  this  food.  Milk  and 
water,  tea  and  coffee,  are  poured.  Bread,  meat, 
and  butter  are  cut.  Bread,  probably  handled 
more  than  any  other  food  on  the  list,  has  a 
hard  crust,  which  offers  a  rather  unfavorable 
lodging-place  for  germ-life.  Ice,  on  the  con- 
trary, washes  the  hands  of  every  person  who 
handles  it,  and  affords  an  ever-ready  liquid 
medium  for  the  immediate  absorption  of  the 
hosts  of  bacteria  which  hands  may  carry.  The 
carelessness  of  the  handlers  of  ice,  their  utter 
disregard  of  the  resting-places  where  it  may 
receive  infection,  may  be  due  partly  to  their 
lack  of  realization  that  ice  is  a  food,  as  real 
a  food  as  meat.  Whatever  the  cause,  few 
substances  which  pass  through  the  digestive 
processes  of  man  receive  such  treatment.  Its 
surface  contaminated  by  the  passage  of  men 
and  horses  in  the  cutting,  its  sides  and  base 
fouled  by  muddied  platforms  and  dirty  straw, 
covered  with  the  filth  of  black  ice-cars  and 
dust-swept  freight  stations,  your  cake  of  ice 


ICE  189 

commonly  receives  its  only  cleaning  just  be- 
fore it  enters  the  ice-chest.  So  far  as  the  ice- 
man is  concerned,  this  is  generally  a  hasty 
brush  with  a  time-worn  whisk-broom,  well 
filled  with  the  dust  of  the  street  and  blackened 
with  constant  use.  According  to  the  personal 
testimony  of  various  ice-men,  not  even  the  pre- 
caution of  a  momentary  washing  beneath  the 
faucet  is  ordinarily  taken.  Add  to  this  lack 
of  cleanly  control  the  immediate  contamination 
of  the  server's  hand  who  prepares  the  ice  just 
before  meal-time,  and  you  have  excellent 
opportunity  for  infection.  And  this  infec- 
tion, contrary  to  the  conditions  which  prevail 
with  water  and  milk,  will  be  normally  a  producer 
of  isolated  disease  rather  than  of  epidemics. 
The  proper  management  of  house-conditions 
rests  upon  the  consumer,  but  there  is  much 
that  can  be  done  before  ice  reaches  the  house. 
Few  of  the  city's  necessities  possess  such 
possibilities  of  regulation  as  the  one  considered 
here.  Water,  springing  from  a  thousand  rills, 
is  the  bearer  in  solution  and  suspension  of 
a  great  portion  of  the  matter  which  it  meets 
upon  its  travels.  Only  by  extraordinary  pre- 
cautions, by  complete  control  of  miles  of  water- 
shed, or  by  carefully  constructed  filters,  can 


190         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

it  be  cleansed.  From  the  moment  of  its  incep- 
tion to  that  of  its  actual  use,  water  must  be 
kept  pure  and  free.  Milk,  produced  in  hun- 
dreds of  isolated  dairy  farms,  small  and  large, 
enters  the  city  in  a  flood,  daily  renewed,  and 
requiring  daily,  almost  hourly,  inspection. 
Vegetables  and  other  provisions  come  in  by 
every  thoroughfare. 

Sharply  contrasted  with  these  are  the  condi- 
tions of  the  city's  ice.  Harvested  in  great  bulk, 
since  small  ponds  no  longer  produce  paying 
quantities,  a  glance  at  any  large-scale  topo- 
graphical map  will  show  the  sources  of  supply. 
Inspection  of  sources  in  consequence  becomes 
a  matter  of  long  jumps  from  point  to  point. 
Entering  the  city  through  centralized  freight 
stations,  ice  from  a  distance  could  invariably 
be  discharged  (as  it  commonly  is)  at  a  few 
distributing  points,  where  single  inspectors  at 
each  terminal  could  determine  its  condition. 
In  the  cases  where  ice  comes  in  by  wagon, 
it  must  originate  in  bodies  of  water  close  at 
hand.  These  are  few  at  best  and  easy  of  cen- 
tralized control.  Concealment  of  unfortunate 
conditions  in  a  pond  open  to  the  eye  of  every 
wayfarer  is  far  more  difficult  than  similar 
concealment  inside  four  walls,  just  as  immu- 


ICE  191 

nity  from  the  consequences  of  assault  and 
robbery  is  a  much  greater  problem  in  the 
public  square  than  it  is  in  the  back  alley.  The 
ice-dealer  who  attempted  to  overflow  his  ice, 
or  to  join  thin  cakes  in  violation  of  law,  would 
have  no  easy  task  to  do  it  unconvicted.  Even 
if  regulation  did  not  extend  to  the  control  of 
the  sources,  an  enforced  law  requiring  the 
planing  off  of  the  topmost  layer  would  do 
much.  Artificial  ice-control  is  made  simple 
because  of  the  fact  that  the  manufacturer 
must  produce  his  product  in  accessible  central 
locations,  and  each  city  will  support  but  few 
plants  of  this  type. 

Municipal  or  state  control  of  the  ice  busi- 
ness is  more  than  practical,  then.  It  is  inex- 
pensive. The  comparatively  small  number  of 
individual  and  corporate  ice-dealers  in  each 
city  makes  the  issuance  of  licenses  a  very 
much  less  complicated  matter  than  the  present 
issuances  of  permits  to  peddlers,  to  milk-men, 
and  to  other  purveyors  of  the  city's  foods. 
Inspection  of  most  food-supplies  must  occur 
almost  hourly.  Inspection  of  ice  need  be  little 
more  than  semi-annual.  Visual  examination 
of  the  pond,  the  ice-house,  and  the  methods 
of  transportation,  bacteriological  examination 


192         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

of  samples  at  harvesting  and  shipping  times, 
regulations  against  the  use  of  snow  and  over- 
flowed ice,  or  proper  provision  for  planing,  con- 
trol of  artificial  ice-factories  in  respect  both  to 
water-supply  and  to  construction,  —  all  these 
matters  could  be  governed  with  a  minimum 
of  cost  as  compared  with  the  possible  results 
obtained. 

That  great  example  of  the  individualistic 
life,  our  old  friend  Robinson  Crusoe,  before 
he  took  up  a  community  existence  with  Friday, 
drew  up,  as  you  will  remember,  two  parallel 
columns  of  bad  and  good.  The  critic  of  the 
city's  health,  striving  to  adjust  a  balance,  may 
set  down  the  results  of  his  reasoning  some- 
what as  follows :  — 

All  the  bacteria  of  disease  are  not  killed, 
even  by  temperatures  far  below  the  freezing- 
point  of  water. 

But  when  the  bacteria  have  to  live  for  long 
periods  in  ice,  as  they  commonly  do  in  ice- 
house storage,  the  greater  part  of  them  perish. 

Snow-ice  and  upper  ice  may  be  filled  with 
surface  impurities.  It  is  the  top  layer  which 
needs  cleansing. 

This  layer  can  be  planed  off. 


ICE  193 

There  is  grave  danger  of  contamination 
from  handling. 

That  is  true  and  hard  to  combat.  But  the 
remedy  for  it  lies  in  the  awakening  of  indi- 
vidual interest. 

There  is  pressing  need  for  proper  general 
control  of  both  the  natural  and  the  artificial 
ice-supply. 

But  there  are  unusual  possibilities  of  com- 
plete control  in  the  dawning  recognition  of 
the  fact  that  the  citizen  must  guard  himself 
and  his  family  by  the  advice  and  service  of 
trained  experts.  Many  as  are  the  ways  in  which 
the  state  can  protect  her  children,  her  greatest 
reliance  must  always  be  the  education  of  the 
individual  citizen,  the  formation  of  standards 
of  life,  and  of  approachable  ideals. 


VII 

SEWER-GAS  AND  PLUMBING 

THE  chapter  which  follows  is  frankly  and  un- 
reservedly a  tale  of  research.  It  is  an  attempt 
to  tell  the  city  householder  what  is  actually 
known  about  sewer-gas,  and  to  explain  some 
of  the  studies  made  in  recent  years  on  house- 
drainage  and  plumbing  with  regard  to  their 
bearing  on  the  public  health.  It  gives  the 
story  of  a  notable  public  action  on  the  part  of 
a  craft.  It  includes  a  brief  discussion  of  actual 
plumbing  conditions,  and  of  the  regulations 
made  to  avoid  the  dangers  which  have  been 
believed  to  come  from  wastes  which  leave  our 
homes.  Since  the  plumbing  of  our  houses  is  the 
barrier  between  us  and  substances  which  might 
rise  from  the  sewer's  stream,  it  is  a  matter  of 
immediate  importance  to  every  city-dweller  to 
know  the  relation  between  sewer-air,  house- 
drains,  and  the  health  of  the  inmates  of  each 
home. 

Few  of  the  sanitary  theories  of  the  city 
worker  are  more  firmly  fixed  than  his  belief 


SEWER-GAS  AND  PLUMBING         195 

in  the  dread  effect  of  sewer-gas.  He  may  have 
no  hesitation  in  drinking  water  whose  source 
offers  every  possibility  of  pollution  from 
typhoid-germs,  and  may  fear  no  danger  in 
the  milk  which  feeds  his  child.  He  is,  however, 
generally  strong  on  drains.  What  is  more, 
there  are  probably  few  sanitary  matters  on 
which  there  seems  to  be  more  personal  evi- 
dence. So  many  people  can  refer  you  to  some 
house  where  there  have  been  cases  of  diph- 
theria, pneumonia,  dysentery,  or  typhoid,  and 
in  which  broken  drains  or  leaky  drain-pipes 
have  been  discovered.  Trace  those  cases  down, 
compare  them  with  the  total  amount  of  re- 
ported sickness  from  these  specific  diseases, 
and  you  begin  to  become  skeptical.  No  epi- 
demic of  disease  has  been  reported  where  reli- 
able statistical  evidence  exists  of  causation 
by  sewer-gas.  There  are  undoubtedly  well- 
authenticated  reports  of  sporadic  illness  where 
sewer  difficulties  have  existed.  We  can  hardly 
make  generalizations  from  these  reports,  how- 
ever, for  the  simple  reason  that  there  are  leak- 
ing drains  on  every  hand  without  disease. 
Epidemiology,  however,  is  filled  with  reports 
of  disease  whose  causation  has  been  definitely 
traced  to  water  or  to  milk.  Is  it  not  possible 


196         THE  HEALTH   OF  THE  CITY 

that  the  danger  from  this  special  source  has 
been  exaggerated,  and  that  in  attributing 
much  trouble  to  this  cause  we  have  been  led 
to  neglect  the  greater  dangers  of  poor  water, 
poor  food,  overcrowding,  and  bad  air?  There 
are  plenty  of  real  evils  in  the  city.  We  have 
no  time  to  fi^ht  with  chimaeras. 

O 

Two  theories  of  the  harmf  ulness  of  sewer- 
gas  hold  the  stage  to-day.  The  first  and  less 
common  is  not  yet  definitely  proved  or  dis- 
proved. It  concerns  the  possibility  that  sewer- 
gas  may  predispose  to  disease,  may  create  a 
state  of  lowered  vitality  in  the  human  frame 
in  which  that  tendency  to  immunity  from  dis- 
ease which  the  healthy  body  holds  is  weak- 
ened. Of  the  relation  which  that  theory  bears 
to  the  public  health  we  shall  speak  later.  The 
second  is  the  common  theory  that  the  germs 
of  disease  rise  directly  from  the  sewer.  This 
chapter  tells  of  the  researches  which  have 
proven  this  popular  belief  to  be  untenable. 

Before  we  turn  to  the  story  of  the  search 
for  the  truth  or  falsity  of  the  charges  made 
against  sewer-gas,  let  us  pause  briefly  to  con- 
sider some  of  the  facts  on  which  that  search 
was  forced  to  depend.  According  to  the  Cen- 
tury Dictionary,  sewer-gas  is  "the  contami- 


SEWER-GAS   AND   PLUMBING        197 

nated  air  of  sewers."  Assume  that  to  be  the 
common  definition,  and  expand  it.  The  air  of 
a  sewer,  in  its  chemical  composition,  can  be 
little  different  from  the  air  of  a  street.  The 
chemical  elements  and  compounds  which  com- 
pose the  great  body  of  the  atmosphere  are 
the  same  in  either  case.  If  sewer-air  is  con- 
taminated, that  contamination  can  arise  only 
from  one  of  two  causes,  —  either  from  the  addi- 
tion of  poisonous  gases  which  are  produced 
by  the  decomposition  of  the  organic  wastes 
which  sewage  contains,  or  from  the  rise  into 
it  of  dangerous  micro-organisms  present  in  the 
liquid  which  flows  through  the  sewer-pipes. 

The  amount  of  poisonous  gases  likely  to  be 
evolved  from  sewage  is  small.  Sewage  is  made 
up  from  the  washings  from  sinks,  from  water- 
closets,  from  a  hundred  processes  involving 
the  use  of  water,  from  rain  and  melted  snow. 
It  runs  to  its  ultimate  destination  in  a  greatly 
diluted  flood,  which  seldom  contains  more 
than  one  part  in  one  thousand  of  organic 
matter.  That  amount  could  furnish  but  little 
gas  under  any  circumstances.  Add  the  fact 
that  the  evolution  of  gases  is  dependent  upon 
decomposition  and  that  sewage  is  rapidly  hur- 
ried on  to  its  place  of  disposal :  it  is  evident 


198         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

that  it  can  seldom  advance  to  the  point  where 
there  is  any  material  amount  of  decomposition. 
In  this  connection  it  is  especially  worthy  of 
note  that,  according  to  Richards  and  Wood- 
man, ill-smelling  gases  are  given  off  only  when 
sewage  is  about  eighteen  hours  old.  It  is  true 
that  sewage,  standing  in  the  septic  tank,  may 
produce  much  gas.  Such  evolution  of  gases 
occurs,  however,  only  under  anaerobic  con- 
ditions, conditions  where  air  is  excluded.  It 
occurs  when  comparatively  concentrated  sew- 
age is  stored  for  shorter  or  longer  periods  of 
time.  To-day  sewage  is  swiftly  removed  from 
the  well-sewered  city,  and  the  danger  of  large 
amounts  of  gases  rising  from  the  sewer,  in 
which  the  liquids  are  carried  to  their  point  of 
final  disposal,  is  slight  indeed.  The  house- 
drain,  the  broken  pipe  from  which  sewage 
seeps  into  the  soil,  the  ill-constructed  waste- 
pipe,  the  cesspool  where  stagnant  liquid  stands, 
might  provide  more. 

Rightly  enough,  the  possibility  of  direct 
germ-infection  from  the  sewer  has  attracted 
the  most  attention.  We  may  learn  from  any 
analysis  that  there  are  great  quantities  of  the 
germs  which  cause  disease  in  the  fresh  liquid 
sewage  of  any  city.  It  is  a  matter  of  very  real 


SEWER-GAS  AND  PLUMBING         199 

importance  for  us  to  know  whether  or  not 
these  micro-organisms  are  likely  to  fly  upward, 
escape  into  the  air  above,  and  infect  the  house- 
hold. Speculation  on  this  point  is  wholly  val- 
ueless. Once  more  we  have  one  plain  way 
before  us — a  quantitative  and  qualitative  ex- 
amination of  sewer-air,  to  determine  whether 
or  not  it  is  more  dangerous  than  the  every-day 
air  that  we  breathe  throughout  the  twenty- 
four  hours  of  the  day.  Many  people  breathe 
the  most  dust-laden  atmosphere  without  a 
thought  of  harm,  who  believe  sewer-gas  a 
deadly  miasma.  Here  is  a  chance  for  a  com- 
parative study.  Let  an  investigator  take  equal 
quantities  of  street-air  and  sewer-air  and  ex- 
amine each  sample,  under  the  rigorous  laws 
of  the  laboratory,  to  determine  how  many 
bacteria  are  present  and  what  kind  they  are. 
If  rightly  carried  on,  that  will  tell  the  story, 
furnish  the  proof.  If  the  air  of  the  sewer  is 
heavily  laden  with  bacteria  and  contains  the 
germs  peculiar  to  sewage,  while  the  air  of  the 
street  does  not  contain  these  germs,  the  case 
against  sewer-gas  would  seem  well  on  its  way 
to  be  proven.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  sewer-air 
contains  practically  no  more  bacteria  than 
street-air  holds ;  if  it  is  free  from  the  danger- 


200         THE   HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

ous  organisms  found  in  liquid  sewage,  it  would 
look  as  if  we  had  been  falsely  alarmed  con- 
cerning the  possibility  of  direct  infection  from 
this  source. 

As  has  been  mentioned  before,  it  is  not 
enough  to  investigate  natural  phenomena 
under  one  set  of  conditions  or  with  limited 
amounts.  Truth  is  always  difficult  to  attain. 
Only  by  repeated  investigations,  made  under 
the  closest  possible  approximation  to  natural 
conditions,  can  the  truth  be  found  in  the  lab- 
oratory. The  air  of  the  sewer  may  be  inert, 
stagnant.  It  may  vary  in  velocity  from  a  gentle 
breeze  to  a  rushing  wind.  The  swifter  the 
wind,  the  greater  the  possibility  of  its  raising 
germs  from  the  surface  of  the  liquid  below. 
Sewage  normally  flows  in  a  quiet,  steady 
stream.  But  water  falling  into  it  goes  down 
in  a  cascading  spray  filled  with  bubbles  of 
air.  Gases,  generated  in  its  depths,  may  rise 
to  its  surface.  Both  the  quiet  liquid  and  the 
bursting  bubble  should  be  investigated.  The 
research  to  determine  whether  or  not  danger- 
ous germ-enemies  of  man  exist  in  sewer-air 
should  be  carried  on  under  conditions  which 
actually  occur. 

There  are  some  peculiarities  of  certain  mem- 


SEWER-GAS  AND  PLUMBING        201 

bers  of  the  bacterial  family  which  should  be 
mentioned  here.  Two  of  the  bacteria  most 
closely  connected  with  the  problem  before  us 
are  the  Bacillus  coli  and  the  Bacillus  typho- 
sus.  Constantly  found  in  the  intestines  of 
man  and  of  many  of  the  higher  animals,  the 
colon  bacillus  is  especially  characteristic  of 
sewage,  where  it  is  found  in  enormous  quanti- 
ties ;  while  the  typhoid  bacillus  is  the  micro- 
organism which,  beyond  all  others,  causes 
water-borne  disease  in  temperate  climes.  These 
two  bacteria  are  closely  related.  Their  pre- 
vailing form  is  that  of  a  plump,  straight  rod, 
with  rounded  ends,  which  is  approximately  one 
twenty-five-thousandth  of  an  inch  in  length. 
Similar  as  they  are,  they  can  be  clearly  dis- 
tinguished by  bacteriological  methods.  Both 
of  these  tiny  germs  have  perceptible  weight, 
and  swiftly  settle  out  of  the  air.  Following 
the  general  rule  of  the  bacteria,  they  flourish 
in  dirt,  darkness,  and  moisture,  all  of  which 
conditions  are  found  in  sewage.  There  is  no 
condition  known  in  which  they  tend  of  them- 
selves to  leave  any  quiet  liquid  media  for  the 
air.  As  we  shall  see,  these  characteristics  play 
their  part  in  the  story  which  follows. 

The  three  countries  most  interested  in  san- 


202         THE   HEALTH  OF   THE  CITY 

itary  reform,  Germany,  England,  and  America, 
each  offered  their  share  of  investigators,  to 
the  end  that  more  light  might  be  shed  upon 
this  question  of  direct  infection  from  the 
germs  of  the  sewer.  The  experimental  results 
reached  in  every  country  were  similar,  and 
have  convinced  the  great  body  of  experts  in 
Germany  and  the  United  States.  They  have 
not  been  sufficient  to  overcome  the  conserva- 
tism of  some  British  sanitarians,  who  have 
been  more  affected  by  the  reports  of  local 
authorities,  who  have  attributed  typhoid  and 
other  epidemics  to  poor  drains,  than  they  have 
been  by  the  carefully  controlled  work  of  the 
laboratory.  France  and  Italy,  in  the  work  of 
Miquel  and  D'Alessi,  have  furnished  two  of 
the  most  noteworthy  researches  of  the  series. 
Mention  of  the  first  of  these  will  be  made  in 
the  immediately  following  paragraphs.  Refer- 
ence to  the  second  must  be  postponed  till  the 
consideration  of  the  second  half  of  our  topic 
—  predisposition. 

Britain's  contribution  to  the  subject  may 
be  said  to  commence  with  the  work  of  Sir 
Edward  Frankland,  who,  like  Pumpelly  in 
America,  made  a  careful  investigation  of  the 
bacterial  life  existent  in  air  above  quiet  liquid 


SEWER-GAS  AND  PLUMBING         203 

sewage,  and  in  air  above  sewage  from  which 
bubbles  of  gas,  generated  by  the  decomposing 
organic  matter,  were  rising.  Both  Frankland 
and  Pumpelly  decided  that,  under  ordinary 
circumstances,  germs  could  be  thrown  off  only 
by  the  bursting  of  bubbles,  that  they  did  not 
rise  from  the  quiet  liquid.  Carnally  and  Hal- 
dane,  in  a  long  and  careful  study  of  English 
and  Scottish  cities,  found  in  practically  every 
street  a  greater  bacterial  population  per  given 
quantity  of  air  than  was  found  in  the  sewers 
beneath  the  street.  The  kinds  of  bacteria  oc- 
curring in  street  and  sewer  were  the  same, 
and  wherever,  for  any  reason,  the  number  of 
the  micro-organisms  increased  in  the  street, 
they  increased  proportionally  in  the  sewer. 
Laws  and  Andrewes,  in  a  similar  investigation, 
carried  the  matter  yet  further.  They  deter- 
mined that  moulds  and  micro-cocci,  both 
especially  characteristic  forms  of  street-air, 
were  most  abundant  in  sewer-air.  Even  more 
important  in  some  ways  was  the  discovery  of 
these  investigators  that  the  Bacillus  coli,  the 
most  typical  bacterial  form  of  sewage,  was  not 
found  in  any  sample  investigated. 

The  German  results  include  numerous  in- 
vestigations, from  those  of  Nageli,  who  con- 


204         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

eluded  in  1877  that  "  infectious  materials,  in 
general,  pass  into  the  air  only  after  drying, 
and  then  in  the  form  of  dust,"  through  the 
•work  of  Uffelmann,  Flugge,  Petri,  and  Ficker. 
Discussing  the  whole  matter  in  1895,  Kirch- 
ner  and  Lindley,  in  a  paper  read  before  the 
German  Society  of  Public  Health,  came  to 
the  following  conclusions :  — 

"  1.  The  assumption  of  the  spread  of  epi- 
demic diseases,  such  as  Typhoid,  Cholera,  and 
Diphtheria,  by  sewer-gas  does  not  harmonize 
with  our  present  knowledge  of  the  nature  of 
the  causative  agents  of  these  diseases. 

"  2.  On  the  other  hand,  the  gaseous  products 
of  decomposition  arising  in  sewers  and  house- 
drains  may  be  harmful,  indirectly  if  not  directly, 
to  those  exposed  to  them  for  a  considerable 
time;  they  may  produce  nausea  and  may  lower 
the  general  tone  of  the  body,  including  its 
resistance  against  disease." 

One  of  the  most  interesting  investigations 
of  the  whole  series  is  the  comparative  study 
made  every  year  for  sixteen  years  by  Miquel, 
who  annually,  for  that  whole  period,  counted 
comparative  numbers  of  the  bacteria  found 
under  similar  conditions  in  Paris  streets,  in 
the  French  countryside  at  Montsouris,  and  in 


SEWER-GAS  AND  PLUMBING         205 

Paris  sewers.  Some  amazing  results  as  regards 
numbers  were  secured.  If  we  average  four 
years  of  the  series,  we  find  approximately  one 
bacterium  in  country  air  to  fourteen  in  the 
sewers  and  thirty  in  the  street,  the  exact  re- 
sults being  Ito  13.817  to  29.976.  According 
to  Miquel,  in  these  years  there  were  about 
half  as  many  micro-organisms  in  the  sewer 
as  in  the  street. 

In  America,  besides  Pumpelly  already  men- 
tioned, Abbott,  Hazen  and  Ruttan,  Whipple 
and  Harrington,  came  to  similar  conclusions, — 
that  the  danger  of  infection  from  germs  rising 
from  the  sewer  was  practically  negligible,  and 
that  bacteria  rose  only  when  they  reached 
the  sewer  in  spray,  or  were  thrown  from  it 
on  bursting  bubbles  of  gas. 

In  1905  affairs  rested  on  the  basis  of  the  ex- 
periments just  described.  German  and  Amer- 
ican sanitary  authorities  in  general  did  not 
believe  that  direct  infection  from  the  germs 
of  the  sewer  was  at  all  probable.  One  section 
of  the  body  of  British  sanitarians  thought  dif- 
ferently. A  large  proportion,  if  not  a  majority, 
of  the  general  public  were  convinced  that 
typhoid,  diphtheria,  and  other  similar  diseases 
rose  directly  from  the  sewer  when  there  was 


206         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

any  drain  trouble  in  the  house.  Then,  in  1905, 
occurred  an  event,  which  seems  to  the  writer 
one  of  the  most  notable  recorded  in  this  book, 
—  the  determination  of  a  craft  to  take  up 
officially  a  scientific  investigation,  through  the 
employment  of  trained  investigators,  who  were 
to  conduct  a  research  in  one  portion  of  their 
field  of  labor.  The  National  Association  of 
Master  Plumbers  of  the  United  States,  acting 
upon  the  suggestions  offered  by  their  Sanitary 
Committee,  authorized  that  committee  to  make 
plans  for  an  investigation,  to  determine,  in 
the  words  of  the  report,  "how  much  sewer- 
gas  was  to  blame  for  the  carriage  of  disease, 
and  if  so,  to  what  extent." 

It  is  a  remarkable  tribute  to  the  grad- 
ually spreading  belief  in  the  touchstone  of  the 
laboratory  that  this  committee,  finding  no 
place  in  the  world  where  investigation  of  the 
questions  which  they  desired  to  have  settled 
was  being  carried  on,  started  upon  a  research 
of  their  own.  Most  corporations  have  already 
learned  that  a  chemist  may  save  them  thou- 
sands of  dollars.  Many  business  interests  have 
come  to  recognize  that  research  which  involves 
utilization  of  by-products,  or  produces  meth- 
ods for  shortening  processes,  means  greater 


SEWER-GAS  AND  PLUMBING         207 

profits.  It  is  certainly  rare,  if  not  unique,  to 
find  a  national  association  of  a  craft  commenc- 
ing such  an  undertaking  for  the  public  health, 
spending  money  for  an  enterprise  which  did 
not  immediately  affect  the  pocket-books  of  the 
members. 

There  was,  fortunately,  one  place  where 
problems  of  sewage-disposal  had  been  espe- 
cially considered  for  some  years.  Since  1903 
the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology  has 
maintained  a  Sanitary-Research  Laboratory 
and  Sewage-Experiment  Station,  designed,  in 
the  words  of  the  catalogue,  for  "the  investi- 
gation of  problems  relating  particularly  to  the 
purification  of  the  sewage  of  large  cities,  for 
the  demonstration  of  sanitary  methods  and 
appliances,  and  ultimately  for  the  advance- 
ment of  popular  education  in  public-health 
subjects."  The  Sanitary  Committee  of  the 
Master  Plumbers,  consisting  of  David  Craig, 
chairman,  and  Messrs.  Balme,  Decker,  Morgan, 
and  Highlands,  arranged  with  the  Institute 
of  Technology  to  erect  needed  experimental 
apparatus  in  the  laboratory  of  the  sewer- 
station,  and  intrusted  the  work  to  Professor 
C-E.  A.  Winslow  of  the  faculty. 

The  investigations  which  preceded  the  one 


208         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

now  under  consideration  had  been  concerned 
chiefly  with  sewer-air  proper,  that  is,  with 
the  air  in  sewer-pipes,  not  with  the  air  of 
house-drains.  It  had  been  reasonably  estab- 
lished that  sewer-air  was  freer  from  germ-life 
than  the  air  of  the  street.  It  had  not  been 
proven  that,  assuming  the  ordinary  conditions 
of  the  discharge  of  water  from  a  water-closet 
or  a  sink  in  a  house,  germs  from  a  broken  drain, 
a  cesspool,  an  unsealed  trap,  or  a  badly  placed 
vent  might  not  make  their  way  into  the  air 
of  rooms.  It  was  just  this  question  of  the 
possibility  of  danger  from  house-plumbing 
that  this  research  undertook  to  solve. 

Plumbing  is  terra  incognita  to  so  many 
of  us  that  a  word  about  the  means  employed 
to  remove  wastes  from  the  household  may  not 
be  amiss.  In  his  "  Municipal  Engineering  and 
Sanitation,"  Baker  writes  that  the  essentials 
of  sanitary  plumbing  are  simplicity,  durability, 
accessibility,  and  air-tightness.  To  these  re- 
quirements, Harrington,  in  his  "  Practical 
Hygiene,"  added  thorough  ventilation  and 
plentiful  water-supply.  Open  plumbing,  by  its 
simplification  of  repair  and  construction,  has 
done  much  to  accomplish  those  ideals.  The 
necessity  for  sound  materials  has  brought 


SEWER-GAS  AND  PLUMBING        209 

about  a  general  use  of  cast  iron,  instead  of 
lead,  for  soil-pipes,  a  notable  change  for  the 
better,  as  iron  is  lighter,  stiffer,  and  more 
durable;  its  stiffness  prevents  the  sagging 
and  pocketing  possible  with  lead.  The  soil- 
pipe  furnishes  the  means  of  exit  to  the  wastes. 
With  it,  as  with  all  the  removal  apparatus,  a 
first  essential  is  such  construction  that  there 
shall  be  no  possibility  of  leakage  for  solid, 
liquid,  or  gas.  The  soil-pipe,  however,  does 
nothing  more  than  provide  a  road  for  removal. 
Protection  against  the  return  of  sewage  or  the 
influx  of  sewer-gases  is  centred  in  the  trap 
and  the  vent. 

A  trap  is  a  device  for  providing  a  water-seal 
to  the  plumbing  of  a  house,  by  causing  some 
of  the  passing  liquid  to  lodge  in  a  pocket 
or  depression.  It  may  be  manufactured  in 
many  forms  and  shapes,  but  the  simplest  one 
of  all  is  the  running  trap  shaped  like  a  U-  The 
wastes  enter  this  trap  at  A  and  leave  at  B. 
No  matter  how  much  water  passes  through, 
C  should  be  left  filled  with  liquid.  This  liquid 
seal  prevents  the  passage  of  air  from  the  sewer 
to  the  house.  A  vent  or  air-pipe,  D, — the  round 
iron  pipe  which  you  may  see  rising  through 
the  roof  of  your  neighbor's  house,  leading  to 


210 


THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 


the  outer  air, — is  placed  on  the  outflowing 
side  of  the  trap  to  provide  ventilation  for 
any  gases  which,  accumulating  in  the  pipes, 


might  force  sewage  back  into  the  bowl.  It 
has  been  believed  that  the  vent  does  away  with 
any  possible  siphoning  or  emptying  of  traps 
because  of  the  sudden  rush  of  water  through 
them. 

In  actual  practice  there  are  three  possibili- 
ties of  sewer-air  or  sewer-gases  rising  into  a 
house  through  a  trap.  The  level  of  water  in  the 
U  of  the  pipe  may  fall  so  low  as  to  leave  the 


SEWER-GAS  AND  PLUMBING        211 

trap  only  partially  sealed.  The  liquid,  through 
some  flaw,  may  disappear  altogether.  Gases 
generated  on  the  sewer  side  may  exert  sufficient 
pressure  on  the  liquid  in  the  water-seal  to  force 
their  way  through  to  the  soil-pipe.  It  is  possible, 
moreover,  though  hardly  probable,  that  germs 
might  rise  from  the  wetted  interior  surface  of 
a  soil-pipe.  We  have  already  seen  that  bacteria 
have  a  perceptible  weight,  and  tend  to  settle 
rather  than  to  rise.  Even  with  an  open  trap,  the 
only  possibility  of  getting  them  into  the  house 
would  be  when  they  were  borne  on  a  strong 
air-current. 

We  have  briefly  reviewed  the  plumbing  con- 
ditions which  were  to  be  investigated.  Now, 
strangely  enough,  as  we  turn  back  to  research, 
we  find  a  comparative  quiescence  of  some 
years  changing  to  an  active  interest  in  the 
matter  of  sewer-air.  There  began  at  this  time 
a  series  of  rival  investigations,  attaining  differ- 
ent ends  and  forming  a  striking  story  of  a 
struggle  to  wrest  truth  from  the  laboratory. 
A  first  research  carried  on  by  Professor  Wins- 
low  was  met  by  a  research  which  reached 
almost  diametrically  opposite  results,  carried  on 
by  Major  W.  H.  Horrocks  of  the  British  Army. 
The  Horrocks  conclusions  were  startling  in 


212         THE  HEALTH   OF  THE  CITY 

the  extreme,  for  they  seemed  to  show  that  the 
greater  part  of  the  results  already  accomplished 
were  false,  and  that  disease-germs  could  rise 
from  the  sewer.  A  second  research  conducted 
by  Professor  Winslow  followed  the  work  of 
Horrocks  step  by  step,  showed  the  fallacies  of 
the  conclusions  which  he  reached,  and  proved 
that  we  may  be  freed  from  one  of  the  fears 
of  sewer-gas  which  has  long  loomed  over  us. 
How  that  laboratory  struggle  was  carried  on, 
the  next  division  of  this  chapter  shows. 

The  necessity  for  reproducing  actual  condi- 
tions in  researches  concerning  the  public  health 
has  been  mentioned  more  than  once  in  this 
book.  It  is  interesting  to  note  how  closely  that 
rule  was  followed  in  the  investigation  author- 
ized by  the  Master  Plumbers.  Stock  plumbing 
materials,  of  the  same  sort  that  would  be  put 
into  your  house,  were  used.  A  four-inch  cast- 
iron  soil-pipe,  fifteen  feet  long,  was  connected 
at  the  bottom  with  an  ordinary  running  trap. 
Currents  of  air,  varying  in  velocity  from  four 
hundred  and  ninety  feet  to  seven  hundred  and 
ninety  feet  a  minute,  were  driven  through  trap 
and  pipe.  No  normal  conditions  would  ever  see 
an  air-current  of  even  five  hundred  feet  a  min- 
ute passing  through  a  trap.  The  air  in  the  soil- 


SEWER-GAS  AND  PLUMBING        213 

pipe  was  examined  at  different  levels,  with  the 
trap  sealed  with  sewage,  partially  sealed,  and 
unsealed,  and  with  the  pipe  dried  and  wetted. 
Under  no  circumstances  were  any  large  num- 
ber of  bacteria  found  in  the  air.  Only  when  the 
air-current  was  rushing  through  at  its  higher 
velocities  were  any  bacteria  dislodged  at  all. 
The  conclusions  of  Professor  Winslow  fol- 
low :  — 

"On  the  whole,  it  appears  that  germs  are 
carried  into  the  air  of  a  house-drainage  system 
from  its  traps  or  wetted  surfaces  only  by  suc- 
tion corresponding  to  an  air-current  of  six  hun- 
dred feet  per  minute.  It  is  scarcely  conceivable 
that  such  a  force  could  be  exerted  under  any 
practical  conditions.  The  friction  in  a  four-inch 
pipe  is  so  great  that  a  fairly  hot  fire  inside  it 
could  hardly  produce  such  a  draft  as  this,  and 
wind,  blowing  across  the  top  of  such  a  pipe  and 
directly  into  its  fresh-air  inlet  at  the  bottom, 
could  cause  so  strong  an  up-current  only  under 
exceptional  conditions.  It  seems,  therefore,  that 
the  carriage  of  disease-germs  from  the  air  of  a 
house-drainage  system  is  an  improbable  con- 
tingency." 

In  the  same  year  (1907)  that  the  investiga- 
tion just  mentioned  was  completed,  Major  W. 


214         THE  HEALTH   OF  THE  CITY 

H.  Horrocks  of  the  Royal  Medical  Corps  re- 
ported to  the  Royal  Society  the  results  of  a 
series  of  experiments  made  at  the  Fortress  of 
Gibraltar,  especially  at  the  Military  Hospital. 
How  widely  the  conclusions  reached  by  this 
investigator  diverged  from  those  just  related, 
the  following  paragraph  will  show. 

The  results  obtained  by  Major  Horrocks, 
followed  by  the  confirming  report  of  Dr. 
Andrewes,  startled  the  world  of  sanitarians. 
Making  a  frothing  soap-solution  strongly  in- 
fected with  a  test  bacterium,  the  Bacillus 
prodigiosus,  Horrocks  investigated  the  air  in 
drains,  in  pipes,  and  in  various  parts  of  sewers, 
by  placing  open  dishes,  containing  sterile  nu- 
trients, at  points  above  the  infected  solution. 
The  plates  one  and  all  showed  the  charac- 
teristic red  colonies  of  Bacillus  prodigiosus. 
Experiments  made  with  the  typhoid  bacillus 
under  similar  conditions  showed  cultures  of 
this  organism.  The  investigator  concluded  that 
"Specific  bacteria  present  in  sewage  may  be 
ejected  into  the  air  of  ventilation-pipes,  inspec- 
tion-chambers, drains,  and  sewers,  by  (a)  the 
bursting  of  bubbles  at  the  surface  of  the  sew- 
age, (&)  the  separation  of  dried  particles  from 
the  walls  of  pipes,  chambers,  and  sewers,  and 


SEWER-GAS  AND  PLUMBING         215 

probably  (c)  the  ejection  of  minute  droplets 
from  flowing  sewage." 

Results  so  contrary  to  the  previous  work  ac- 
complished naturally  provoked  much  criticism. 
On  their  publication  the  Sanitary  Committee 
of  the  Master  Plumbers'  Association  took  up 
the  problem  anew,  and  commissioned  Professor 
Winslow  to  carry  on  a  second  series  of  experi- 
ments to  check  the  results  obtained  by  Horrocks, 
and  to  carry  them  further  if  possible.  This  was 
especially  necessary,  as  the  Horrocks  experi- 
ments had  been  made  in  a  somewhat  different 
fashion  from  any  hitherto  attempted.  Soapy 
water  was  used.  The  method  of  leaving  plates 
containing  nutrients  freely  exposed  to  the 
air  for  considerable  periods  of  time,  commonly 
for  twenty-four  hours,  left  great  possibilities 
of  contamination.  Such  contamination  might 
proceed,  not  only  from  a  worker  lowering  the 
plates  to  place,  but  also  from  the  more  prob- 
able cause  of  infection  by  dust  and  flies.  Most 
of  the  Horrocks  tests  were  qualitative  not 
quantitative,  as  the  plates  examined  were  sim- 
ply exposed  for  various  periods  of  time  to 
unmeasured  volumes  of  air. 

The  isolated  fact  that  harmful  bacteria  are 
found  in  any  place  is  not  necessarily  a  sign  of 


216         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

danger.  They  are  so  plentiful  that  we  can 
scarcely  escape  them,  and  their  growth  is  so 
rapid  as  to  be  almost  beyond  our  comprehension. 
These  micro-organisms  grow  by  division,  and 
some  of  the  species  grow  so  rapidly  as  to  divide 
twice  every  hour.  One  at  the  beginning  of  an 
hour,  therefore,  means  four  at  the  end,  if  all 
survive.  The  rapidity  of  this  type  of  multipli- 
cation is  extraordinary.  In  a  day,  if  nothing 
stopped  the  growth,  H.  W.  Conn  has  figured 
that  one  bacterium  would  have  16,500,000 
offspring,  so  to  speak.  Two  days  would  produce 
281,500,000,000,  which  would  form  a  solid  pint 
of  bacteria,  weighing  about  a  pound.  Three 
days,  still  assuming  that  nothing  stepped  in  the 
way  of  the  growth,  would  produce  forty-seven 
thousand  billions,  which  would  weigh  about 
sixteen  million  pounds.  These  figures  are  of 
course  wholly  theoretical,  for  the  simple  reason 
that  something  always  does  step  in  the  way. 
Before  the  descendants  of  the  bacteria  reached 
even  to  the  millions,  lack  of  food,  overcrowd- 
ing, and  the  accumulation  of  their  own  life- 
processes  would  stop  their  further  growth.  But 
the  essential  point  remains,  —  that  bacteria 
multiply  with  a  swiftness  almost  beyond  our 
ken.  A  thimbleful  of  milk  may  contain  hun- 


SEWER-GAS  AND  PLUMBING        217 

dreds  of  thousands  of  these  organisms.  Its 
content  may  easily  reach  to  the  millions.  The 
milk  is  unusually  pure  if  it  contains  less  than 
ten  thousand  in  this  slight  volume.  A  quart  of 
infected  milk  may  easily  contain  billions  of 
these  tiny  bodies. 

It  must  be  evident  from  the  preceding  para- 
graph that  the  mere  presence  of  bacterial  life 
is  not  a  sign  of  danger.  If  it  were,  we  should 
never  be  free  from  peril.  Major  Horrocks's  re- 
sults showed  the  presence  of  some  indicator- 
germs  (germs  intentionally  used  to  test  con- 
ditions) like  Bacillus  Coli  in  sewer-air.  The 
essential  problem  which  he  left  unsolved 
and  which  the  next  research  answered  is  this, 
— Does  the  presence  of  comparatively  few 
indicator-germs  mean  any  real  probability  of 
getting  any  disease-germs  at  all?  New  York 
City  water,  a  surface-water  of  good  quality,  will 
almost  always  contain  one  hundred  bacteria 
of  the  sewage  type  to  a  quart  of  water.  Such 
a  bacterial  content  indicates  a  slight  degree 
of  pollution  which  would  be  better  done  away 
with,  yet  New  York  water  is  drunk  without 
serious  harm  by  hundreds  of  thousands  of  city- 
dwellers.  A  quart  of  water  is  a  small  amount 
for  use  during  a  day.  If  we  breathe  in  no 


218         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

more  harmful  germs  than  that  amount  con- 
tains, we  shall  probably  suffer  n9  injury  from 
specific  infection  caused  by  the  germs  of  sewer- 
gas. 

The  second  part  of  Winslow's  work  on  this 
subject  was  devoted  to  a  careful  imitation  of 
the  Horrocks  methods  and  a  still  more  ex- 
tended examination  of  the  air  in  plumbing 
systems  actually  in  use  in  residences,  hospitals, 
offices,  and  hotels.  The  report  of  the  Sanitary 
Committee  of  the  Master  Plumbers  for  1909 
gives  the  full  story  of  this  search.  It  contains 
the  answer  to  our  original  comparison  of  equal 
quantities  of  street-air  and  sewer-air.  It  in- 
volves three  of  the  most  interesting  appli- 
cations of  the  possibility  of  joining  actual 
conditions  to  laboratory  methods  that  have 
been  recorded. 

Entering  the  Boston  sewer  in  a  boat-cham- 
ber, the  investigators  placed  dishes  containing 
sterile  nutrients  beside  the  eddying  stream  of 
sewage,  and  on  various  steps  leading  to  the 
street.  The  colon  bacillus  characteristic  of  ani- 
mal wastes  was  found  on  every  plate,  but  the 
numbers  of  these  bacilli  were  smallest  near- 
est the  sewer,  greatest  nearest  the  street,  and 
the  increase  from  sewer  to  street  was  constant. 


SEWER-GAS  AND  PLUMBING         219 

Remember  the  point  made  earlier,  —  that  these 
organisms,  tiny  as  they  are,  have  a  perceptible 
weight  and  settle  swiftly,  —  and  you  will  see 
that  these  results  indicate  one  thing,  —  that 
the  bacteria  found  in  sewer-air  come  chiefly 
from  street  dust  infected  by  such  agencies  as 
manure,  not  from  the  sewer. 

A  soapy  solution,  like  that  used  in  the  Hor- 
rocks  experiments,  was  next  tried.  Qualita- 
tively, without  reference  to  numbers,  it  ap- 
peared that  bacteria  could  be  drawn  into  the 
air  from  heavily  infected  solutions.  In  eight 
careful  investigations  it  was  shown  that  but 
seven  test  bacteria  (Bacillus  prodigiosus]  ap- 
peared in  air  above  foaming  liquids  containing 
over  fifteen  billions  of  this  specific  organism. 
Dilution  such  as  this  can  harm  no  one.  Wins- 
low  carried  the  matter  still  further.  Setting  up 
an  ordinary  water-closet,  and  reproducing  the 
natural  splashing  of  water  passing  through  it, 
he  examined  forty-four  samples  of  air  to  see 
if  infection  could  take  place  under  these  con- 
ditions. One  case  of  contamination,  and  only 
one,  occurred.  One  plate,  and  only  one,  was 
apparently  infected  by  a  single  drop.  Again 
quantitative  methods  showed  that  the  possi- 
bility of  disease  from  the  germs  of  an  ordinary 


220         THE  HEALTH   OF  THE  CITY 

house-system  were  too  slight  to  be  considered. 
The  investigation  of  nineteen  plumbing  sys- 
tems in  actual  use  showed  the  general  air  of 
house  drainage-systems  to  be  amazingly  free 
from  sewage  organisms,  far  freer,  in  fact,  than 
the  air  of  the  street  or  the  common  water-sup- 
ply of  many  cities. 

According  to  this  investigation,  therefore, 
a  man  in  an  ordinary  room  would  have  to 
breathe  undiluted  sewer-air  for  twenty-four 
hours  on  a  stretch  to  take  into  the  system  as 
many  sewage  bacteria  as  a  pint  of  New  York 
water  contains.  Only  at  those  points  where 
sewage  splashes  into  spray  does  the  bacterial 
content  increase  above  this  ratio,  and  then 
only  for  a  few  moments.  Suppose  we  sum  the 
matter  up  with  the  closing  sentence  of  Pro- 
fessor Winslow's  report :  "  I  believe,  however, 
that  my  results,  in  the  light  of  all  previous 
evidence,  warrant  the  conclusion  that  the 
chance  of  direct  bacterial  infection  through 
the  air  of  drains  and  sewers  is  so  slight  as  to 
be  practically  negligible." 

The  results  obtained  by  Horrocks  failed  in 
two  respects.  His  use  of  heavily  infected,  foam- 
ing emulsions  to  represent  sewage  did  not 
actually  represent  the  conditions  which  exist  in 


SEWER-GAS  AND  PLUMBING        221 

a  common  house  drain-pipe  or  in  the  sewer. 
His  reliance  on  qualitative  measures  did  not 
give  sufficient  information  as  to  actual  every- 
day conditions.  Bacterial  life  is  so  widespread, 
so  nearly  omnipresent,  that  the  mere  presence 
of  various  organisms  in  air  is  not  enough  to 
condemn  the  air.  There  is  a  possibility  of  the 
presence  of  harmful  micro-organisms,  but  it 
is  slight.  Were  we  to  consider  all  such  risks, 
we  should  live  under  a  never-lifting  cloud  of 
fear.  Man  must  take  some  chances,  and  in 
comparison  with  graver  dangers  we  may  con- 
sider the  possibilities  of  harm  from  this  source 
negligible. 

In  the  preceding  portion  of  this  chapter  I 
have  considered  the  grounds  on  which  sanita- 
rians base  their  disbelief  of  the  common  the- 
ory of  the  carriage  of  infectious  disease  by 
germs  in  sewer-air.  There  remains,  however, 
a  second  possibility  which  has  received  com- 
paratively little  consideration.  One  chance  of 
deleterious  action  on  the  part  of  sewer-gas 
remains :  the  general  predisposition  to  disease 
which  may  be  caused  by  the  constant  inhala- 
tion of  odors,  or  of  such  gases  as  ammonium 
sulphide,  carbon  monoxide,  and  hydrogen  sul- 
phide, all  of  which  possess  poisonous  properties, 


222         THE  HEALTH   OF  THE  CITY 

and  all  of  which  may  be  generated  during 
the  decomposition  of  organic  matter.  Records 
are  in  existence  which  tell  of  deaths  caused 
by  accumulation  of  heavy  gases  in  cesspools 
and  in  dead  ends  of  sewers.  Such  deaths  were 
caused  by  suffocation  or  by  direct  gas  poison- 
ing. They  are  few  in  number,  and  the  testi- 
mony of  vital  statistics  shows  that  sewer-work- 
ers are  unusually  strong,  with  a  high  mean 
age  at  death  and  a  low  death-rate. 

Vital  resistance,  the  varying  powers  of  dif- 
ferent persons  to  resist  disease,  is  no  slight 
factor  in  sickness.  It  is  entirely  possible  that 
the  odors  of  sewer-gas,  interfering  with  appe- 
tite and  digestion,  might  weaken  the  general 
condition.  There  has  been  one,  and,  so  far 
as  the  writer  knows,  only  one  investigation 
into  the  problem  of  predisposition  to  disease 
resulting  from  exposure  to  sewage.  This  was 
the  research  conducted  some  years  ago  by  Dr. 
Alessi  of  the  University  of  Rome.  The  results 
of  that  investigation  indicated  that  animal 
life,  when  exposed  to  the  effect  of  gases  pro- 
duced by  decomposition  in  sewage,  lost  its 
power  of  resistance  to  certain  specific  germ- 
diseases.  Notable  as  these  results  were,  their 
lack  of  confirmation  and  their  comparatively 


223 

limited  extent  enjoin  caution  before  they  can 
be  accepted  as  wholly  authoritative. 

Roechling,  the  author  of  the  important  work 
"  Sewer-Gas  and  its  Influence  on  Health," 
believes  that  the  action  of  sewer-gas  may  pre- 
dispose the  individual  to  the  attacks  of  disease ; 
and  no  small  number,  especially  of  British 
sanitarians,  as  has  been  said,  agree  with  him. 
It  is  an  interesting  commentary  on  the  other 
side  of  the  question  that,  of  six  American 
books  on  the  causation  of  disease,  taken  at 
random  from  the  shelf,  the  indexes  of  one 
half  show  no  reference  to  odors  or  to  sewer- 
gas. 

A  quotation  from  Dr.  William  Budd,  given 
in  Sedgwick's  "  Sanitary  Science  and  the  Pub- 
lic Health,"  is  so  peculiarly  pertinent  to  the 
matter  in  hand  that  a  part  of  it  will  bear  repe- 
tition here.  "The  need  of  some  radical  mod- 
ification in  the  view  commonly  taken  of  the 
relation  which  subsists  between  typhoid  fever 
and  sewage  was  placed  in  a  very  striking  light 
by  the  state  of  the  public  health  in  London 
during  the  hot  months  of  1858  and  1859, 
when  the  Thames  stank  so  badly. 

"Never  before  had  nature  laid  down  the 
data  for  the  solution  of  a  problem  of  this  kind 


224         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

in  terms  so  large,  or  wrought  them  out  to  s& 
decisive  an  issue. 

"  An  extreme  case,  a  gigantic  scale  in  the 
phenomena,  and  perfect  accuracy  in  the  regis- 
tration of  the  results —  three  of  the  best  of 
all  the  guarantees  against  fallacy  — were  com- 
bined to  make  the  induction  sure.  For  the 
first  time  in  the  history  of  man,  the  sewage 
of  nearly  three  million  people  had  been  brought 
to  seethe  and  ferment  under  a  burning  sun, 
in  one  vast  open  cloaca  lying  in  their  midst. 

"  The  result  we  all  know.  Stench  so  foul, 
we  may  well  believe,  had  never  before  ascended 
to  pollute  this  lower  air.  Never  before,  at 
least,  had  a  stink  risen  to  the  height  of  a  his- 
toric event.  Even  ancient  fable  failed  to  fur- 
nish figures  adequate  to  convey  a  conception 
of  its  vile  Augean  baseness.  For  many  weeks 
the  atmosphere  of  Parliamentary  committee- 
rooms  was  only  rendered  barely  tolerable  by 
the  suspension  before  every  window  of  blinds 
saturated  with  chloride  of  lime,  and  by  the 
lavish  use  of  this  and  other  disinfectants. 
More  than  once,  in  spite  of  similar  precautions, 
the  law  courts  were  suddenly  broken  up  by 
an  insupportable  invasion  of  the  noxious  vapor. 
The  river  steamers  lost  their  accustomed  traf- 


SEWER-GAS  AND  PLUMBING         225 

fic,  and  travelers  pressed  for  time  often  made 
a  circuit  of  many  miles  rather  than  cross  one 
of  the  city  bridges. 

"Members  of  Parliament  and  noble  lords, 
dabblers  in  sanitary  science,  vied  with  profes- 
sional sanitarians  in  predicting  pestilence.  If 
London  should  happily  be  spared  the  cholera, 
decimation  by  fever  was,  at  least,  a  certainty. 
The  occurrence  of  a  case  of  malignant  cholera 
in  the  person  of  a  Thames  waterman  early  in 
the  summer  was  more  than  once  cited  to  give 
point  to  these  warnings,  and  as  foreshadowing 
what  was  to  come.  Meanwhile,  the  hot  weather 
passed  away,  the  returns  of  sickness  and  mor- 
tality were  made  up,  and,  strange  to  relate, 
the  result  showed,  not  only  a  death-rate  below 
the  average,  but,  as  the  leading  peculiarity 
of  the  season,  a  remarkable  diminution  in  the 
prevalence  of  fever,  diarrhoea,  and  the  other 
forms  of  disease  commonly  ascribed  to  putrid 
emanations. 

"  The  testimony  of  Dr.  Me  William,  as  med- 
ical supervisor  of  the  waterguard  and  water- 
side custom-house  officers,  is  still  more  to  the 
point.  The  former,  to  the  number  of  more 
than  eight  hundred,  may  be  said  to  live  on 
the  river,  or  in  the  docks,  in  ships,  or  in  open 


226         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

boats;  and  the  latter,  numbering  upward  of 
five  hundred,  are  employed  during  the  day 
in  the  docks,  or  at  various  wharves  of  the 
bonded  warehouses  on  each  side  of  the  river. 
After  stating  that  the  amount  of  general  sick- 
ness among  these  men  was  below  the  average 
of  the  three  preceding  years,  and  considerably 
below  that  of  the  forms  of  disease  (including 
diarrhoea,  choleraic  diarrhoea,  dysentery,  etc.) 
which,  in  this  country,  noxious  exhalations 
are  commonly  supposed  to  originate,  we  find 
the  additions  during  the  four  hot  months  of 
the  year  from  this  class  of  complaints  26.3 
per  cent  below  the  average  of  the  correspond- 
ing period  of  the  three  previous  years,  and 
73  per  cent  less  than  those  of  1857.  In  an- 
other passage  this  distinguished  physician  says, 
'It  is  nowhere  sustained  by  evidence  that  the 
stench  from  the  river  and  docks,  however 
noisome,  was  in  any  way  productive  of  dis- 
ease. On  the  contrary,  there  was  less  disease 
of  that  form  to  which  foul  emanations  are 
supposed  to  give  rise  than  usual.' 

"Before  these  inexorable  figures  the  illu- 
sions of  half  a  century  vanish  in  a  moment." 

One  nearby  possibility  of  infection  from 
the  bath-room  has  been  too  much  neglected  in 


SEWER^GAS   AND   PLUMBING         227 

the  consideration  of  the  comparatively  remote 
possibility  of  more  distant  germ-infection,  — 
the  spilling  of  slops  poured  down  the  hopper 
by  careless  servants.  That  this  provides  a  con- 
siderable possibility  of  infection  through  vari- 
ous carrying  agencies,  such  as  flies,  fingers, 
and  the  like,  few  can  question.  Fortunately, 
the  cure  is  directly  in  the  housekeeper's  hands. 
Here,  as  in  so  many  other  places,  the  woman  in 
the  home  can  do  more  than  man  in  the  seat  of 
government  to  better  affairs  through  clean- 
liness. There  is  every  possibility,  moreover, 
that  unclean,  ill-ventilated  house-plumbing 
will  give  off  stronger,  more  immediate,  and 
more  persistent  odors  than  any  sewer.  Odors 
from  bath-tubs  and  set  bowls,  for  example,  are 
due  commonly  to  decomposing  soap  in  the 
overflow  pipe. 

An  analysis  made  some  years  ago  of  the 
status  of  the  plumbing  laws  indicated  a  wide 
divergence  of  requirements  made  by  states 
and  municipalities.  At  that  time  only  nine- 
teen states,  the  District  of  Columbia,  and 
Porto  Rico  had  laws  with  regard  to  plumb- 
ing; but  the  large  cities  of  most  of  the  states 
had  laid  down  individual  regulations.  Most  of 
these  ordinances  require  master  plumbers  to 


228         THE  HEALTH   OF  THE  CITY 

have  licenses.  About  a  third  require  master 
plumbers  to  furnish  bonds  ranging  in  amount 
from  two  hundred  to  five  thousand  dollars. 
The  majority  require  extra  heavy  cast-iron  soil- 
pipes,  running  traps,  and  fresh-air  inlets.  Vent- 
pipes  in  general  must  be  of  cast  iron  or  of 
galvanized  wrought  iron,  and  must  extend 
from  one  to  three  feet  above  the  roof. 

Plumbing  regulations,  like  many  other  or- 
dinances intended  for  the  city's  health,  are 
cursed  with  certain  typical  evils.  They  are 
indefinite,  stating,  for  example,  that  cer- 
tain parts  of  the  plumbing  shall  be  "  suitable," 
"adequate,"  "properly  installed."  They  are 
by  no  means  uniform.  They  are  stated  in  too 
complex  a  fashion,  and  they  vary  from  the 
extremes  of  excessive  caution  to  those  of 
excessive  laxness.  They  are  not  firmly  based 
on  the  broad  foundation  of  the  body  of  scien- 
tific fact  already  acquired. 

The  case  of  the  people  versus  sewer-gas,  as 
originally  entered,  contained  two  charges,  a 
major  and  a  minor.  On  the  evidence  submitted 
I  believe  we  may  fairly  acquit  the  defendant 
on  the  major  charge,  and  declare  that  sewer- 
gas  cannot  produce  infectious  disease,  through 
rising  germs.  On  the  minor  charge,  that  ex- 


SEWER-GAS   AND  PLUMBING         229 

posure  to  the  gases  of  the  sewer  may  produce 
predisposition  to  disease,  the  evidence  submit- 
ted is  still  inconclusive.  We  can  scarcely  do 
more  than  register  a  Scotch  verdict  of  "Not 
proven." 

The  results  so  far  obtained,  however,  show 
us  one  truth  of  no  slight  importance.  Where 
infectious  disease  exists,  we  must  look  else- 
where than  in  the  sewer  for  its  causation. 
That  fact  renders  it  no  less  our  duty  to  insure 
proper  sewers  and  a  proper  disposal  of  wastes. 
And  this,  not  alone  from  common  decency, 
but  from  the  very  real  dangers  which  sewage 
holds.  Instead  of  striking  at  a  point  where  the 
enemy  has  made  a  feint,  we  should  attack  his 
main  force  at  those  weak  points  of  his  chain 
of  defenses  which  our  scouts  have  laid  bare. 

The  change  of  attitude  on  sewage  is  one  of  the 
interesting  developments  of  reversal  brought 
about  by  an  increase  of  knowledge.  Where 
sanitarians  formerly  believed  that  sewer-gas, 
if  not  the  root  of  all  evils,  was  certainly  the 
root  of  many  of  them,  experts  to-day  consider 
sewer-gas  a  comparatively  harmless  substance, 
but  pay  the  greatest  attention  to  liquid  sew- 
age as  a  means  of  infection,  —  a  substance 
whose  noxious  qualities  are  much  less  consid- 


230         THE   HEALTH   OF  THE  CITY 

ered  by  the  average  layman.  Filled  with  the 
possibilities  of  infectious  disease,  liquid  sew- 
age needs  the  greatest  care  in  its  handling  and 
disposal.  Some  of  the  modern  methods  of  dis- 
posal have  already  been  considered  in  another 
place.  Streams  of  sewage  emitting  evil  odors 
and  offensive  to  the  senses  cannot  directly 
produce  disease,  yet  it  is  most  essential  that  it 
should  be  safely,  accurately,  and  thoroughly 
disposed  of.  It  is  only  the  barbarian  who  does 
not  remove  sewage  from  the  sight  and  smell 
of  his  community. 


VIII 

THE  CITY'S  NOISE 

Now  loud,  now  low,  now  sounding  in  musical, 
humming  rhythm,  now  clanging  in  sharp  stac- 
cato or  rising  in  plangent,  shrieking  chords, 
the  song  of  the  city  comes  to  the  listening  ear. 
The  low,  beating  throb  of  the  midnight  hours, 
broken  by  the  abrupt  sounds  of  early  morning, 
changes,  as  morning  turns  to  afternoon,  through 
the  various  measures  of  a  full-throated  chorus 
whose  instruments  are  those  of  trade:  the 
whistle,  the  rushing  car,  the  noise  of  commerce. 
The  theme  passes,  with  the  fall  of  night,  into 
the  hurrying  allegro  of  returning  thousands, 
threads  to  its  web  through  the  clatter  of  the 
evening  hours,  and  returns  at  last  to  the  low 
throb  of  twenty-four  hours  before.  Never  does 
it  cease. 

Stimulus  to  the  morning  toiler  entering  the 
city  gates,  the  city's  noise  may  be.  To  the 
strong,  it  seems  the  call  of  battle-trumpets 
summoning  to  the  rush  and  hurry  of  the  busy 
morning.  As  the  long  day  wears  on,  inevitable 


232         THE   HEALTH   OF  THE   CITY 

reaction  sets  in,  the  wearing  grind  of  city-labor 
bears  heavily  on  hand  and  brain ;  and  the  noise, 
growing  more  and  more  an  irritant,  beats  at 
last  on  the  wearied  ear  with  whips  of  strident 
steel.  Another  factor  has  been  added  to  in- 
crease the  nerve-exhaustion  which  is  drawing 
so  heavily  on  the  forces  of  the  city.  A  constant, 
if  unperceived,  drain  upon  the  strong,  the 
noise  of  the  city  may  be  an  almost  intolerable 
torture  to  the  weak. 

Quixotic  tilting  against  windmills  will  do 
little  more  in  a  noise-crusade  than  it  will  else- 
where. No  city  can  be  carried  on  without  a 
very  considerable  amount  of  necessary  noise. 
A  really  silent  city  is  impossible.  But  the 
unnecessary  noise  of  recent  years,  the  escapa- 
ble  noise,  so  to  speak,  has  increased  to  a  point 
beyond  all  reasonable  tolerance.  It  is  just 
this  part  of  the  whole  that  we  wish  to  stop. 
Muirhead  once  said : "  Among  the  most  search- 
ing tests  of  the  state  of  civilization  reached  by 
any  country  are  the  character  of  its  roads,  its 
minimizing  of  noise,  and  the  position  of  its 
women.  If  the  United  States  does  not  stand 
very  high  on  the  application  of  the  first  two 
tests,  its  name  assuredly  leads  all  the  rest  in 
the  third."  It  is  well  worth  our  while  to  see 


THE  CITY'S  NOISE  233 

what  we  can  do  toward  obtaining  a  higher  per- 
centage on  the  second  test. 

Of  all  the  manifestations  of  the  world  about 
us,  which  our  senses  can  perceive,  many  can  be 
escaped.  Sound  is  inescapable.  The  eyelids 
can  shut  out  light  from  the  eyes,  the  lips  keep 
taste  from  the  tongue,  and  the  hand  may  be 
voluntarily  withheld  from  touching.  The  ear 
remains  open  day  and  night  to  receive  what- 
ever impressions,  be  they  pleasant  or  unpleas- 
ant, the  outer  world  may  send  to  it.  Where 
Mother  Nature  has  failed  to  protect  her  chil- 
dren, man  must  step  in  to  aid. 

In  his  consideration  of  the  physiological  ef- 
fects of  noise,  Dr.  Richard  Olding  Beard  once 
made  the  statement  that "  Noise  is  fast  becom- 
ing a  neurotic  habit  with  the  American  people." 
Speaking  of  the  separation  of  sound-waves  into 
two  great  classes,  "  noises  and  musical  sounds, 
the  one  class  characterized  by  the  absence,  the 
other  by  the  presence,  of  the  quality  of  rhythm," 
he  went  on  to  explain  that  the  one  is  an  irri- 
tant, the  other  a  solace  to  the  normal  ear ;  and 
remarked  that  these  different  types  of  vibration 
not  only  act  differently  upon  the  ear,  but  ac- 
tually act  upon  different  parts  of  the  ear's  mech- 
anism. Noise,  acting  upon  the  nervous  system 


234         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

of  the  nervously  worn  city-dweller,  produces  so 
real  and  constant  an  irritation  that  quiet  be- 
comes an  abnormal  state,  to  which  exhausted 
nerves  find  great  difficulty  in  responding. 

A  personal  experience  first  showed  the  writer 
the  possibility  of  a  state  of  affairs  where  the 
habit  of  noise  could  become  as  fixed  as  the 
habit  of  a  drug.  Waking  one  night  in  the 
quiet  of  a  country-house  far  from  other  habi- 
tations, I  suddenly  heard  the  starting  of  the 
hot-air  engine  which  pumped  the  water,  chug- 
chug-chug-chug.  I  lay  listening  to  its  monoto- 
nous vibrations,  and  wondering  at  the  unusual 
hour  for  pumping,  until  I  fell  asleep.  The  next 
night  the  sound  was  repeated.  On  my  men- 
tioning the  matter  to  my  host,  he  confessed 
that  he  could  not  sleep  in  the  quiet  of  the  coun- 
try, that  the  sudden  change  from  the  roar  of 
a  great  city  to  the  silence  of  the  woods  was  so 
great  as  to  cause  him  real  suffering.  As  his  only 
way  to  rest,  he  would  leave  the  house  in  the 
middle  of  the  night,  start  up  the  pump,  and, 
lying  down  in  a  nearby  hammock,  find  sleep 
brought  him  by  the  lullaby  of  the  hot-air  engine. 
That  man  recognized  that  he  had  the  noise- 
habit,  and  finally  conquered  it.  How  about  the 
many  who  are  never  far  enough  away  from  the 


THE  CITY'S  NOISE  235 

incessant  tumult  to  know  that  the  habit  has 
formed?  The  incessant  din  of  hammer  upon 
iron  in  the  boiler-shop  creates  a  disease  of  the 
ear  among  the  workers,  known  as  "boiler- 
maker's  ear."  Little  by  little  their  finely  at- 
tuned sensory  nerves  become  dull  and  indiffer- 
ent to  ah1  sound.  Far  more  continuous  than  the 
clamor  of  the  boiler-shop,  the  noise  of  the  city 
is,  at  times,  almost  as  deafening.  The  boiler- 
maker  commonly  resides  far  from  his  scene  of 
labor,  and  may  have  thirteen  or  fourteen  hours 
of  rest  from  the  sounds  of  his  vocation.  The 
city-dweller  is  never  free  from  the  surrounding 
din.  The  passage  to  his  ear  is  open,  sleeping 
and  waking.  More  than  one  expert  believes 
that  a  dulling  of  the  ear  to  the  finer  gradations 
of  sound  must  result  in  time  from  life  spent  in 
the  midst  of  such  surroundings.  The  aggregate 
of  city  noise  has  increased  so  greatly  in  recent 
years  that  we  have  hardly,  as  yet,  sufficient 
data  to  prove  this  theorem.  It  is,  at  least, 
extremely  probable. 

When  we  come  to  consider  the  effect  of 
noise  in  the  sick-room,  the  records  of  the  doc- 
tors appear  in  report  after  report,  testimonial 
after  testimonial.  Officers  of  hospitals  for  the 
insane  consider  the  increasing  noise  of  the  city 


236         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

a  potent  factor  in  the  recent  increase  of  insan- 
ity, citing  case  after  case  where  their  attempts 
to  cure  these  unfortunates  have  been  hampered 
or  nullified  by  sudden  or  continued  noises.  Dr. 
Hyslop  of  London  says,  in  his  monograph  on 
"  Noise  in  its  Sanitary  Aspect":  "There  is  in 
city  life  no  factor  more  apt  to  produce  brain 
unrest,  and  its  sequel  of  neurotism,  than  the 
incessant  stimulation  of  the  brain  through  the 
auditory  organs." 

Dr.  Gregory  of  Bellevue  Hospital,  in  a  state- 
ment made  at  the  time  of  the  first  struggle 
in  New  York  to  suppress  unnecessary  steam- 
whistling  on  the  rivers,  wrote  in  part :  "  Many 
patients  suffering  from  typhoid,  meningitis, 
and  other  serious  illness,  will  become  annoyed 
by  the  least  noise  or  disturbance.  To  these, 
restful  sleep  is  of  paramount  importance,  and 
frequently  such  disturbances  may  cause  a 
relapse  or  turn  the  scale  against  them.  In 
many  delirious  patients  an  hour's  rest  or  sleep 
may  mean  life.  You  can  readily  imagine  the  dis- 
appointment of  the  doctor  and  nurse,  who 
have  struggled  to  bring  about  the  much-desired 
quiet  and  sleep,  when  suddenly  all  their  efforts 
are  frustrated  as  a  result  of  the  disturbing 
whistles." 


THE  CITY'S  NOISE  237 

In  the  quotation  just  cited,  Dr.  Gregory 
spoke  especially  of  the  steam  whistle.  In  any 
catalogue  of  the  causes  of  noise,  that  type 
must  stand  preeminent.  Sudden,  discordant, 
terrific  in  its  intensity,  few  are  the  ears  that 
can  bear  its  sudden  attack  unmoved.  As  used 
in  cities,  it  is  an  outworn  relic  of  a  former 
time,  of  the  day  when  every  crossing  bore 
upon  its  pointing  finger  the  inscription,  "  Look 
out  for  the  engine  when  the  bell  rings";  when 
watches  and  clocks  were  high  in  price  or  low 
in  accuracy ;  when  such  modern  substitutes 
for  the  voice  as  the  electric  bell  were  generally 
quite  unknown.  Of  the  whistle  of  the  steam- 
boats we  shall  have  occasion  to  speak  later, 
in  our  discussion  of  conditions  in  New  York. 
It  is  sufficient  here  to  bring  up  those  twin 
banes  of  the  city,  the  factory  and  the  train 
whistle,  specialized  forms  of  noise  which  have 
been  fought  valiantly  for  years  by  Professor 
Edward  S.  Morse  of  Salem.  No  statement  of 
this  subject  would  be  complete  without  refer- 
ence to  his  labors. 

A  few  decades  ago,  the  locomotive  whistle 
had  its  undoubted  use  in  signaling,  and  in 
the  warning  of  travelers  on  roads  crossed  at 
grade.  To-day,  on  country  roads  it  may  still 


238         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

serve  a  purpose.  Its  city  use  is  ended.  Com- 
pulsory gates  are  now  placed  at  important 
city-crossings.  The  tendency  toward  compell- 
ing crossings  to  be  above  or  below  grade  is 
growing  rapidly.  Block-systems  of  control  and 
automatic  methods  of  signaling  have  come 
into  being.  Every  city-crossing  is  guarded. 
But  the  whistling  continues,  the  strength  of 
the  noise  has  increased  as  engines  have  grown 
more  modern  in  other  ways,  and  the  delight 
of  employees  in  the  use  of  the  whistle  seldom 
fails.  Here  and  there,  cities  and  towns  have 
passed  ordinances  aimed  at  this  annoyance. 
Some  have  been  successful  in  carrying  them 
through.  In  the  majority  of  places,  however, 
through  lack  of  concerted  action,  the  trains 
passing  gated  crossings  at  midnight  wake 
every  light  sleeper,  and  every  sick  and  weary 
soul,  for  long  distances  around,  by  their  con- 
tinued blasts. 

The  use  of  the  locomotive  whistle  in  sig- 
naling train-crews,  in  switching  and  shunting, 
makes  life  in  the  vicinity  of  a  station-yard  a 
twenty-four-hour  nightmare,  three  hundred 
and  sixty-five  days  in  the  year.  I  shall  not 
soon  forget  my  first  sight  of  a  European 
freight-yard,  where  all  the  signals  were  given 


THE  CITY'S   NOISE  239 

by  bugle  calls,  whose  clear  musical  notes  gov- 
erned the  easily  moving  trains  and  minimized 
the  attendant  noise.  If  the  American  railroad 
man  scorns  the  use  of  a  bugle,  there  is  still 
the  megaphone  and  the  boatswain's  whistle. 
Much  could  be  done  by  signals  read  by  the 
eye.  If  the  engineer  can  back  his  engine  to 
the  required  point  on  the  signal  of  the  brake- 
man's  waving  arm  or  lantern,  is  there  any 
reason  why  he  should  not  respond  in  turn  by 
arm  or  light  instead  of  by  use  of  the  whistle  ? 
While  railroad  men  with  whom  I  have  talked 
are  not  all  agreed  on  this  point,  no  small 
number  believe  that  the  continual  whistling 
of  the  yards  confuses  the  men  at  work,  renders 
their  labors  more  difficult,  and  increases  the 
awful  yearly  total  of  maimed  and  injured  rail- 
road employees. 

Whatever  excuse  the  locomotive  whistle 
may  yet  have  for  a  curtailed  existence,  the 
right  of  the  factory  whistle  to  continue  has 
ceased.  In  the  old  days  when  workmen  of 
city  factories  lived  grouped  around  their  in- 
dividual places  of  employment,  it  may  have 
been  necessary  to  summon  workmen  by  a 
whistle.  To-day,  with  the  multiplication  of 
timepieces  of  all  sorts,  with  the  nightly  de- 


240         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

parture  of  many  city  workmen  to  homes  far 
from  the  factory  section,  that  need  is  disap- 
pearing. The  land  about  city  factories  is  too 
valuable  for  workmen's  houses.  The  modern 
corporation  has  no  use  for  the  man  who  can- 
not get  to  his  work  on  time.  The  six-o'clock 
whistle  can  no  longer  rouse  its  workmen,  for 
they,  as  a  mass,  no  longer  live  within  its  call ; 
and  the  workman  who  is  at  the  factory  on 
time  will  enter  no  more  rapidly  on  the  call 
of  a  seven-o'clock  whistle  than  he  will  on 
that  of  an  electric  gong.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
the  moment  of  starting  work  is  determined 
by  the  starting  of  the  machinery  in  the  vast 
majority  of  factories,  those  which  run  only  in 
the  day.  Since  tens  and  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  the  workmen's  children  reach  school  on  the 
stroke  of  nine  on  every  school-day  in  the  year, 
since  they  are  able  to  enter  on  the  call  of 
an  electric  gong  and  pass  from  room  to  room 
on  the  pulsation  of  electric  bells,  is  there  any 
reason  why  their  fathers  should  be  unable  to 
do  as  much?  Factory  after  factory  has  abol- 
ished its  whistle  with  complete  success,  yet 
custom  holds  good  with  thousands  of  others 
whose  shrill  cry  brings  torment  to  the  innocent 
victims  around. 


THE  CITY'S  NOISE  241 

The  whole  problem  of  whistling  has  been 
dealt  with  in  a  systematic  manner  by  the  city 
of  Cleveland.  So  brief  and  simple  are  the  pro- 
visions of  its  law,  made  some  years  ago  and  still 
in  force,  that  I  venture  to  quote  them :  — 

ORDINANCE  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CLEVELAND. 
Sub-Division,  No.  1. 

Section  841.  Engine  Whistle.  No  whistles  con- 
nected with  any  railway  engine  shall  be  sounded 
within  the  limits  of  the  city  of  Cleveland  except  as 
a  signal  to  apply  the  brakes  in  case  of  immediate 
or  impending  danger. 

/Section  842.  Vessel  Whistles.  No  person  shall 
blow  or  cause  to  be  blown  the  steam  whistle  of 
any  vessel  propelled  by  steam,  while  lying  at  any 
wharf  in  the  city  of  Cleveland,  or  when  approach- 
ing or  leaving  such  wharf  or  navigating  the  Cuya- 
hoga  River  in  said  city,  except  when  absolutely 
necessary  as  a  signal  of  danger,  or  in  cases  and 
under  the  circumstances  prescribed  by  the  rules 
of  navigation  or  the  laws  and  regulations  of  the 
United  States  requiring  the  use  of  such  whistles. 

Section  843.  Stationary  Engines.  No  person 
shall  blow  or  cause  to  be  blown  within  the  limits 
of  the  city  of  Cleveland  the  steam  whistle  of  any 
stationary  engine  as  a  signal  for  commencing,  or 
suspending  work,  or  for  any  other  purpose  except 
as  specified  in  the  following  section. 

Section  844.   Nothing  in  this  sub-division  con- 


242         THE  HEALTH   OF  THE  CITY 

tained  shall  be  construed  as  forbidding  the  use  of 
steam  whistles  as  alarm  signals  in  case  of  fire  or 
collision,  or  other  imminent  danger,  nor  for  the 
necessary  signals  by  the  steam  engines  of  the  fire 
department  of  the  city. 

Section  845.  Any  person  violating  or  failing 
to  comply  with  any  of  the  provisions  of  the  sub- 
divisions shall  be  fined  not  less  than  ten  dollars, 
nor  more  than  fifty  dollars. 

A  section  also  prescribes  the  signals  that 
shall  be  sounded  for  steam-tugs. 

The  construction  of  the  pavements  of  a 
city,  important  from  the  side  of  the  cleanliness 
of  the  air,  needs  serious  consideration  from 
the  standpoint  of  noise.  Stop  in  Times  Square, 
New  York,  some  evening  when  the  rush  of 
theatre  traffic  is  crossing  the  pavement,  and 
listen  to  the  sound.  The  asphalt  gives  back 
comparatively  little  reverberation  from  the 
rolling  wheels,  whose  sound  is  continuous, 
regular,  and  rhythmical.  Separate  the  sound 
of  horses'  hoofs  from  tbe  general  clatter. 
First  in  steady  clicks  like  clock-beats,  now  it 
slows,  now  hastens,  now  stops,  now  quickens. 
Ever  changing,  the  broken  series  of  sounds 
comes  at  irregular  intervals  and  produces  a 
particularly  trying  type  of  sound-injury.  The 


THE  CITY'S  NOISE  243 

reason  for  such  differences  in  speed  becomes 
evident  as  we  turn  and  walk  down  Broadway. 
On  a  clear  space  of  sidewalk  our  pace  becomes 
regular,  moving  with  precision ;  when  a  crowd 
blocks  the  way,  our  movement  is  checked ;  if 
a  crossing  intervenes,  it  stops.  Corners,  car- 
tracks,  and  blockades  are  constantly  chang- 
ing the  speed  of  even  a  single  horse  crossing 
the  city  pavements,  thereby  producing  noise 
instead  of  regularity  of  sound.  Add  to  the 
noise  of  a  single  horse,  passing  on  the  asphalt, 
the  many  sounds  of  different  horses  passing  at 
various  speeds,  and  you  have  a  tumult.  Stone- 
block  pavements,  with  their  irregular  junctions 
and  broken  edges,  are  much  worse  than  asphalt. 
Macadam  is  comparatively  quiet.  Wooden 
blocks,  such  as  are  found  on  the  London  streets, 
are  the  best  from  a  standpoint  of  noiseless- 
ness.  Cobblestones  are  the  worst  of  all. 

Horse-transportation  is  but  one  factor  in 
the  total  passing  of  the  city.  Cable  and  trol- 
ley-cars rattle  from  side  to  side ;  motors,  with 
their  fiendish  variation  of  whistles,  thread 
their  way  in  and  out;  while  the  overhead 
trolley-wires,  like  the  strings  of  some  huge, 
discordant  violin,  never  cease  their  vibrations. 
Thoreau  speaks  of  the  sounding  of  the  tele- 


244         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

graph-wires,  "that  winter  harmony  of  the 
open  road  and  snow-clad  field."  Grateful  as 
that  song  may  be  in  the  quiet  of  the  country, 
in  the  city  the  noise  of  the  racked  trolley-wire 
above  adds  a  peculiarly  trying  factor  to  the 
pounding  from  the  rocking  cars  below.  When 
corporate  officials  desire  to  economize  on  trac- 
tion lines,  they  not  uncommonly  equip  the 
service  with  poor  rails  and  wheels.  The  rails 
soon  wear  away.  The  wheels  assume  the  shape 
of  polygons  instead  of  circles,  and,  as  they 
turn,  strike  flattened  angles  against  the  irreg- 
ularities of  the  iron  rail.  This  is  a  particu- 
larly effective  method  of  adding  to  the  total 
noise.  Fortunately,  there  is  one  way  of  relief 
in  sight.  Few  devices  in  transportation  have 
done  more  for  the  quiet  of  the  city  than  has 
the  increasing  use  of  subways.  Though  the 
reverberation  within  the  subway  proper  may  be 
greatly  increased,  the  relief  on  the  street  is 
marked.  Only  in  our  greater  cities  and  along 
main  trunk-lines,  however,  does  the  subway 
yet  exist.  The  elevated,  so  far  as  noise  is  con- 
cerned, gives  practically  little  advantage  over 
the  surface-car,  save  for  the  intermittence 
of  stopping  and  starting,  and  the  absence  of 
the  sound  of  the  bell. 


THE  CITY'S  NOISE  245 

Pleasant  as  is  the  mental  picture  of  chiming 
bells  pealing  out  from  the  spire  of  quiet, 
white-walled  church  or  Gothic  tower,  many 
of  our  church  bells  are  quite  out  of  place  in 
the  crowded  concourse  of  men.  No  longer 
limiting  its  service  to  the  brief  call  to  prayers 
on  the  quietest  day  of  the  week,  the  resonant 
metal  sends  forth  its  summons  each  day  and 
night  throughout  the  year.  Chimes  tell  the 
quarter,  long  peals  mark  each  passing  hour; 
periods  of  tolling  ring  the  requiem,  not  only 
of  the  dead  of  the  individual  church,  but  of 
each  notable  man  who  passes  away.  The  last 
necessity  of  the  clock's  telling  the  time  audibly 
disappeared  with  the  coming  of  the  illuminated 
dial.  The  tolling  of  one  bell  among  the  many 
in  a  great  city  ceases  to  have  significance  in 
its  honor  of  the  dead.  Yet  with  the  multipli- 
cation of  church  bells,  each  hour  brings  a 
dozen  chimes,  mingling,  prolonging,  clashing, 
as  they  send  forth  their  voices  from  their 
lofty  spires.  Intended  as  messengers  of  the  doc- 
trine of  mercy,  they  are  merciless  indeed  to 
the  weak  and  sick  within  sound  of  their  voices. 

The  sounding  of  a  general  fire-alarm  by  the 
use  of  whistles  or  bells  serves  as  another  re- 
minder of  a  tradition  quite  outworn.  The  wild 


246         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

clang  of  the  village  bell,  which  summons  every 
able-bodied  man  within  reach  to  fight  the 
flames,  is  still  a  necessity  of  the  country.  City 
fires,  on  the  other  hand,  are  fought  by  highly 
trained  specialists,  who  have  no  use  for  ama- 
teur help.  The  silent  electric  fire-alarm  an- 
swers every  purpose  of  the  fire-fighters.  The 
telephone  can  notify  the  individuals  especially 
interested.  A  general  alarm  from  bells  and 
whistles,  which  calls  a  horde  of  curious  gazers, 
is  a  decidedly  mixed  blessing  as  regards  the 
fire.  It  is  an  unmixed  evil  in  its  increase  of 
the  general  noise. 

The  barking  of  stray  dogs  and  the  howl- 
ing of  wandering  cats  furnish  another  proof 
of  the  finding  of  good  things  in  the  wrong 
place.  No  real  lover  of  animals  can  feel  any- 
thing but  pity  for  most  of  the  ranging  dogs 
and  cats  of  the  city  alleys  and  back-yards, 
starved,  pitiable  spectacles  as  they  are.  A  false 
humanity  has  kept  these  companions  of  man 
in  an  environment  wholly  unsuited  to  their 
nature,  and  the  wrong  which  men  have  done 
in  prisoning  these  creatures  of  the  open  in 
the  brick-walled  city  has  produced  its  appro- 
priate punishment  to  mankind  in  the  resulting 
annoyance  from  their  cries. 


THE  CITY'S  NOISE  247 

For  real  malignant  power,  none  of  the 
individual  offenders  against  repose  surpasses 
the  milkman.  Others  raise  their  voices  in  the 
midst  of  an  awakened  city.  He  assumes  the  role 
of  the  wakener  of  the  early  morning.  Surely 
there  must  be  few  of  us  who  have  not  been 
aroused  by  the  rumbling  of  the  milk-wagon, 
the  running  feet  of  the  milkman,  the  pecul- 
iarly sharp  clatter  of  the  exchange  of  the 
empty  bottles  for  the  full,  the  lengthy  and 
animated  discussions  of  drivers  meeting  in  the 
early  morning.  Some  of  the  largest  milk  com- 
panies in  New  York  have  taken  up  this  prob- 
lem with  gratifying  results.  Rubber-tires  and 
rubber-shod  horses,  instructions  to  drivers  to 
avoid  unnecessary  disturbance,  and  inspection 
to  see  that  these  instructions  are  carried  out, 
has  been  more  than  a  public-spirited  move.  It 
has  been  a  commercial  success.  The  average 
citizen  much  prefers  his  own  milk  delivered 
by  a  noiseless  milkman,  other  things  being 
equal. 

It  is  hard  indeed  utterly  to  condemn  the 
music  of  hurdy-gurdy  and  barrel-organ,  of 
street-band,  and  of  itinerant  musician.  The 
little  dancing  feet  of  the  children  of  the  poor 
are  too  seldom  stirred  by  melody  to  shut  this 


248         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

solace  wholly  from  their  lives.  Stop  for  a 
space  and  follow  the  music  up  the  crowded 
slum  street,  and  you  will  see  an  eagerness  of 
appreciation  such  as  symphonies  do  not  receive. 
There  are  some  quarters  of  the  city  where  the 
organ-grinder  is  welcome.  There  are  others 
where  his  coming  spells  torture  to  every  mu- 
sical ear.  He  is  certainly  out  of  place  near 
hospitals  or  schools.  A  limitation  of  street- 
music  to  certain  definite  areas  has  proved 
possible.  It  would  seem  as  if  even  more  than 
this  might  be  done.  There  are  music  commis- 
sioners in  many  cities.  Why  not  turn  the 
licensing  of  street-music  over  to  them,  with 
the  requirement  that  with  the  license  shall  go 
some  inspection  of  the  quality  of  the  music. 
It  is  said,  though  of  this  I  have  no  definite 
proof,  that  the  experiment  has  already  been 
tried  under  the  direction  of  a  city  department 
of  police.  If  this  elevation  of  the  police  to  a 
censorship  of  the  Muses  continues,  we  may  yet 
achieve  marvels  of  harmony.  On  the  whole, 
however,  I  cannot  but  think  the  music  com- 
mission might  prove  more  satisfactory. 

Last,  but  not  least,  in  our  catalogue  of 
noises  comes  the  call  of  the  street-peddler. 
"  Street  cries."  That  phrase,  like  certain  chords 


THE  CITY'S  NOISE  249 

of  music,  certain  fragrances  of  flowers,  brings 
up  a  medley  of  delightful  reminiscences.  Early 
morning  in  the  "  Quartier,"  where  one  lis- 
tened drowsily  to  the  ancient  calls  of  charcoal- 
seller  and  baker,  of  venders  of  merchandise 
who  cried  their  wares  with  the  very  intonation 
of  their  ancestors  of  decades,  even  of  centu- 
ries, ago.  Afternoons  in  dingy  London  streets, 
hunting  down  the  rare  prints  of  the  brilliantly 
colored  "Street  Cries  of  London."  The  roar- 
ing tide  of  Whitechapel,  and  an  old  church 
with  its  vivid  oasis  of  green  where  we  turned 
to  the  quiet  of  the  Thames.  Always  the  pleas- 
ant memories  are  of  foreign  lands;  never  of 
America.  In  their  attempt  to  overcome  the 
general  din,  our  own  itinerant  merchants  have 
taken  to  every  possible  means  of  making  their 
presence  known.  Bugle  calls,  rattles,  bells,  and 
horns ;  even,  in  the  case  of  one  ingenious  soul, 
the  mounting  upon  his  cart  of  a  monster 
phonograph  which  declared  in  doggerel  the 
virtues  of  his  wares.  Each  strives  to  outdo 
the  other,  producing  a  general  level  of  sound, 
in  whose  presence,  as  in  the  presence  of  a 
shouting  mob,  no  individual  voice  can  be 
perceived.  In  the  interest  of  the  huckster,  as 
well  as  of  the  community,  a  reform  already 


250         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

suggested  should  be  gladly  received.  It  has 
been  proposed  that  the  principle  of  the  com- 
mon ice  placard  be  greatly  extended.  The  ice- 
man comes  at  the  call  of  the  card.  There  is 
no  reason  why  all  other  sellers  of  the  street 
should  not  be  summoned  by  the  same  sign. 
Differently  colored  cards  are  proposed  for  every 
trade,  and  the  housewife,  should  her  commu- 
nity establish  such  an  ordinance,  may  call  her 
butcher,  baker,  and  candlestick-maker  by  the 
use  of  signal  cards  which  represent  an  exten- 
sion of  one  of  the  underlying  principles  of 
noise-reform,  the  use  of  the  eye  instead  of  the 
ear. 

Arverne-by-the-Sea  has  put  into  execution 
a  successful  plan  for  doing  away  with  the  ex- 
traneous noise  of  hucksters.  In  this  case,  an 
ordinance  was  passed  which  charged  junkmen 
a  license  fee  of  five  dollars  unless  the  licensee 
cry,  shout,  or  employ  one  or  more  bells  or  other 
noisy  devices.  If  such  devices  are  employed, 
the  fee  is  fifty  dollars.  Five  dollars  each  is 
charged  other  types  of  wagon,  two  dollars  each 
to  pack,  hand-cart,  or  basket-peddler,  if  they 
are  quiet.  If  they  shout  or  use  noisy  devices, 
the  fee  is  trebled.  If  you  enter  Arverne  by  any 
route,  you  may  pass  hucksters  beside  the  road, 


THE  CITY'S  NOISE  251 

busily  engaged  in  removing  the  bells  from 
their  carts.  The  appeal  to  the  pocket-book  has 
been  successful. 

Newark  attacked  the  problem  by  means  of 
a  direct  law,  which  forbade  the  use  of  bells, 
gongs,  horns,  whistles,  or  similar  noise-makers, 
and  went  on  to  regulate  the  phonograph,  a 
source  of  noise  which  few  municipalities  have 
been  so  hardy  as  to  assail.  This  section  of  the 
ordinance  follows :  — 

"  Section  3.  It  shall  be  unlawful  for  any 
person,  persons,  company,  corporation  or  other 
body  of  individuals,  to  permit  or  cause  any 
sound  such  as  that  emitted  by  phonographs 
and  other  similar  sound-producing  instru- 
ments to  be  directed  through  open  doors  or 
windows  into  the  streets  or  other  public 
places  within  the  corporate  limits  of  the  city 
of  Newark,  or  permit  or  cause  such  sounds 
to  be  produced  so  as  to  be  diffused  in  public 
places,  within  the  corporate  limits  of  the  city." 

Many  as  are  the  sources  of  noise,  the  gen- 
eral movement  against  the  evil  was  slow  in 
starting.  Recognition  of  the  necessity  of  gen- 
eral cleanliness  in  the  city,  of  control  of  food- 
supplies  and  water-supply,  began  much  earlier 
and  progressed  more  rapidly.  Citizens  could 


252         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

recognize  that  deaths  resulted  from  lack  of 
cleanliness.  They  were  far  slower  in  realizing 
that  constant  drains  upon  the  city's  forces 
caused  by  unnecessary  noise  might  prove  a 
serious  handicap  to  the  total  efficiency  of  a 
community.  Many  men,  hardened  to  noise, 
scornfully  repudiated  the  conception  that  it 
could  be  in  any  way  harmful,  considered  ob- 
jectors weak  sentimentalists,  refused  to  believe 
that  noise  could  be  in  any  way  harmful  to  the 
sick,  and  even  gloried  in  the  increasing  tumult 
of  the  city  as  a  sign  of  material  growth.  Here 
and  there  an  individual  sufferer  complained. 
Now  and  then  some  man,  wiser  than  his  genera- 
tion, protested  publicly.  In  recent  years  several 
men,  Hyslop,  Kempster,  Lederle,  Girdner,  and 
Morse,  among  others,  published  papers  and  did 
valiant  work.  The  American's  habit  of  inertia 
in  the  presence  of  an  evil  suffered  by  all  his 
neighbors  equally  with  himself,  hindered  con- 
certed action.  Only  in  the  last  few  years  has 
the  movement,  which  originated  in  New  York, 
risen  to  large  proportions. 

Hemmed  in  by  the  North  and  East  rivers, 
the  long  narrow  strip  of  land  which  holds  the 
crowded  buildings  of  New  York  suffered  from 
the  continual  torment  of  resounding  whistles 


THE  CITY'S  NOISE  253 

which  came  from  tugs  and  steam-craft  of  every 
type.  If  you  were  a  riparian  New  Yorker,  it 
mattered  little  whether  you  lived  in  a  palatial 
residence  on  Riverside  Drive,  or  in  a  crowded 
tenement  on  the  East  Side :  in  either  case,  you 
were  haunted  day  and  night  by  the  continual 
shrieking.  So  confusing  was  the  din  that  it 
was  difficult  for  boats  to  make  proper  use  of 
signals  for  meeting  and  passing.  Tugs  coming 
to  wharves  to  take  scows  up  or  down  the  river 
would  begin  whistling  two  miles  and  more 
away,  in  order  to  waken  sleepy  watchmen  on 
the  docks.  Boats  sounded  their  screaming  call 
for  half  hours,  to  call  their  crews  from  river- 
bank  saloons.  Pilots  on  river-steamers  ex- 
changed greetings  with  their  friends  on  other 
boats  by  means  of  the  whistle's  cord,  or  gave 
salutes  in  honor  of  the  servant  girls  in  apart- 
ment houses  that  front  the  Drive.  It  was  a 
saturnalia  of  sound. 

Such  a  tyranny  of  noise  on  the  New  York 
rivers  made  Riverside  Drive  a  natural  place 
for  the  beginnings  of  the  league  against  noise. 
To  one  who  suffered  from  that  frenzied  tumult 
it  was  a  natural  step  to  think  of  other  sufferers, 
especially  of  the  long  lines  of  sick  in  hospital, 
helpless  before  its  fury.  From  those  conditions 


254         THE   HEALTH  OF  THE   CITY 

arose  a  leader  whose  single-minded  devotion 
to  the  cause  and  singular  abililty  of  organiza- 
tion have  produced  far-reaching  results.  That 
leader  is  Mrs.  Isaac  L.  Rice. 

Mrs.  Rice  began  her  campaign  some  years 
ago,  with  an  investigation  of  the  relation  be- 
tween health  and  noise,  as  exemplified  by  the 
conditions  in  the  New  York  hospitals.  From 
preliminary  queries,  sent  to  the  officials  of  those 
institutions,  the  almost  universal  response  came 
back  that  noise  was  injurious  to  patients  suf- 
fering with  many  different  types  of  disease. 
Her  data  once  obtained,  Mrs.  Rice  started  a 
systematic  campaign  through  bureau  and  com- 
mission, council  and  legislature,  aimed  at  the 
abolition  of  the  evil  of  unnecessary  noise. 

From  the  Department  of  Health  to  the  Dock 
Commissioners,  from  the  Wardens  of  the  Port 
to  the  United  States  Local  Steamboat  In- 
spectors, from  the  Collector's  Office  to  the  Law 
Division,  from  the  Police  Department  back  to 
the  Department  of  Health  again,  through  all 
the  mazes  of  the  Municipal  Circumlocution 
Office,  Mrs.  Rice  traveled  over  and  over  again. 
Each  and  all,  like  their  famous  protemporaries, 
finally  "  gave  it  up,"  deciding  that  the  reason 
why  they  did  so  was  because  the  Hudson  was 


THE  CITY'S  NOISE  255 

a  Federal  waterway.  Its  noise  could  not  be 
controlled  by  the  municipality. 

If  genius  is  tbe  capacity  for  "eternally 
pegging  away  at  a  thing,"  genius  was  surely 
shown  in  this  case.  Undaunted  by  her  experi- 
ences, Mrs.  Rice  took  her  case  to  the  Federal 
government:  first  to  the  Department  of  the 
Treasury,  thence  to  the  Department  of  Com- 
merce and  Labor,  thence  to  the  Board  of 
Supervising  Inspectors  of  Steam  Vessels.  The 
workings  of  the  Federal  Circumlocution  Office 
seemed  as  devious  as  those  of  the  municipal 
office.  One  by  one,  those  officials  "gave  it  up." 
They  decided  that  there  was  no  law  under 
which  the  Federal  government  could  act.  For- 
tunately, however,  even  if  circumlocution  offices 
were  labyrinths  which  ended  where  they  began, 
multitudes  in  the  world  outside  were  becoming 
interested  in  the  success  of  the  cause.  Unable 
though  Mrs.  Rice  had  been  to  secure  the  ces- 
sation of  the  noise  by  governmental  action, 
private  individuals  by  the  hundreds,  a  great 
body  of  the  press,  the  owners  of  steamboat 
lines,  the  American  Association  of  Masters, 
Mates,  and  Pilots,  had  expressed  their  sympathy 
with  the  work  and  offered  their  aid.  Influenced 
to  some  degree  by  this  exhibition  of  public 


256         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

sentiment,  the  whistling  stopped  in  part.  It 
was  but  a  temporary  cessation.  Soon  it  was 
on  the  increase  once  more. 

Here,  as  elsewhere,  legislation  proved  the 
only  permanent  safeguard.  There  was  no  law 
which  governed  steamboat  whistling,  and  the 
only  way  to  reach  it  was  by  a  congressional 
bill.  Congressman  William  S.  Bennett  of  New 
York  brought  forward  and  secured  the  pas- 
sage of  a  bill  giving  to  the  supervising  inspec- 
tors of  steamboats  the  right  to  regulate  the 
whistling  done  by  boats  on  water  under  their 
jurisdiction.  This  was  the  first  bill  ever  passed 
by  Congress  having  for  its  ultimate  object 
the  suppression  of  noise.  The  bill  once  passed, 
interpretation  was  secured,  and  eighty-five  per 
cent  of  the  unnecessary  noise  due  to  this  cause 
was  eliminated. 

The  passage  of  the  Bennett  bill  marked  a 
decisive  victory.  Partial  legislation  had  been 
secured,  and  the  way  was  open  to  a  continu- 
ance. But  there  was  an  ever-present  necessity 
that  enforcement  follow  legislation,  and  that 
a  strong  public  sentiment  back  up  enforce- 
ment, if  the  statutes  against  noise  were  to 
become  effective,  and  not  a  part  of  the  dead, 
useless  lumber  that  crowds  our  statute-books. 


THE  CITY'S  NOISE  257 

Legislation,  enforcement,  public  opinion,  these 
are  three  links  of  a  chain  that  breaks  if  any 
one  of  the  three  be  severed.  To  sustain  all 
three,  "to  awaken  public  sentiment  in  favor 
of  our  cause,  and  to  aid  our  hospitals  by  di- 
minishing unnecessary  noises  in  their  immedi- 
ate vicinity,"  the  "  Society  for  the  Suppression 
of  Unnecessary  Noise  "  was  formed.  Mrs.  Rice 
was  made  president,  and  many  distinguished 
Americans  offered  their  services  to  the  advi- 
sory board.  Most  important  of  all,  fifty-nine 
hospitals,  representing  eighteen  thousand  and 
eighteen  beds,  had  representatives  on  the  di- 
rectorate. The  work  of  this  society  on  the 
"  Quiet  Zone  "  ordinance  and  the  "  Children's 
Hospital  Branch"  deserves  the  imitation  of 
other  cities. 

The  "  Quiet  Zone  "  law  in  particular  marked 
a  great  advance.  For  years  an  old  law  of  New 
York  had  forbidden  organ-grinders  to  ply 
their  trade  or  hucksters  to  cry  their  wares 
within  one  block  of  church,  hospital,  or  school, 
between  the  hours  of  nine  and  four.  That 
law  had  been  a  dead  letter  almost  from  the 
day  of  its  passage.  It  failed  lamentably  at 
three  points.  It  was  effective  only  in  school 
and  church  hours,  leaving  the  hospitals  during 


258         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

the  many  other  hours  of  the  day  at  the  mercy 
of  the  passers-by.  It  did  not  mark  off  in  any 
public  way  the  space  which  was  to  represent 
the  vicinity,  thereby  making  enforcement  at 
any  time  extremely  difficult.  It  did  not  include 
the  manifold  unnecessary  noises  of  transpor- 
tation. The  new  "  Quiet  Zone "  ordinance, 
passed  last  year  by  the  Board  of  Aldermen, 
includes  all  noises  caused  by  transportation, 
whether  from  horse-drawn  or  motor  vehicles 
(this  latter  a  most  important  point),  requires 
the  placing  of  conspicuous  signs  of  "  Hospital 
Zone,"  or  "  Hospital  Street,"  one  block  away 
from  the  hospitals  on  all  approaching  streets, 
and  enables  the  police  to  arrest  any  persons 
making  unnecessary  noise  near  a  hospital. 

If  there  is  one  quality  of  which  most  of  us 
who  are  striving  for  the  city's  welfare  need 
to  be  long,  and  of  which  we  are  likely  to  be 
short,  it  is  never-failing  tact.  How  many  of 
us  have  no  occasion  to  cry  mea  culpa  !  when 
charged  with  its  lack?  There  seems  to  be  so 
much  to  be  done,  so  little  time  in  which  to 
do  it.  It  is  all  the  more  refreshing  on  that 
account  to  relate  the  happy  manner  in  which 
the  difficult  problem  of  the  noise  of  playing 
children  about  the  hospitals  —  a  serious  evil 


THE  CITY'S  NOISE  259 

because  of  the  unfortunate  fascination  which 
ambulance  cases  have  for  the  city  child  —  was 
attacked.  Watch  the  craning  of  necks  and 
scampering  of  feet  among  the  children  as  the 
ambulance  hurries  by,  and  you  will  under- 
stand that  hospitals  readily  become  gather- 
ing-places for  all  the  children  within  reach. 
Arrest,  imprisonment,  or  fine,  even  restriction 
of  their  brief  rights  in  the  playground  of  the 
streets,  is  a  crime  against  the  city  child's 
starved  nature,  save  in  cases  of  real  extremity. 
Recognizing  this,  and  recognizing  at  the  same 
time  the  need  of  the  sick,  Mrs.  Rice,  with 
the  help  of  Mark  Twain  and  the  New  York 
Board  of  Education,  started  the  Children's 
Hospital  Branch  in  the  schools  of  New  York. 

From  room  to  room,  from  building  to  build- 
ing, Mrs.  Rice  pursued  her  quest,  asking  the 
children  not  only  to  be  quiet  themselves  near 
the  hospitals,  but  to  use  their  influence  to 
keep  others  quiet.  In  thousands  they  re- 
sponded. I  quote  from  Mrs.  Rice's  own  story 
of  the  founding  of  the  Branch  a  few  of  the 
children's  pledges,  each  written  in  the  child's 
own  words:  — 

"I  offer  up  this  sacrifice,  so  as  to  comfort 
the  sick  near  hospital  and  any  place  I  know 


260         THE   HEALTH   OF  THE  CITY 

where  sick  persons  are,  and  to  prevent  all 
sorts  of  noises  that  are  not  necessary." 

"  I  promise  just  the  way  a  president  pro- 
mises to  be  true  to  his  country,  to  stop  other 
people  from  making  a  noise,  and  I  also  will 
not  make  a  noise  in  front  of  a  hospital." 

"  My  dear  Miss  Rice,  I  promise  that  I  will 
never  make  a  noise  near  a  hospital.  Positively 
know." 

"  I  promise  not  to  play  near  or  around  any 
hospital.  When  I  Do  pass  I  will  keep  my 
mouth  shut  tight,  because  there  are  many 
invalids  there.  Nor  will  I  make  myself  a  per- 
fect NUISANCE." 

"  With  all  my  heart  I  promise  you, 
Just  what  you  advised  us  to  do, 
I  am  willing  to  obey  your  plan, 
To  make  the  least  noise  as  I  can, 
Before  a  hospital." 

It  would  be  hardly  right  to  close  this  article 
without  at  least  a  word  concerning  the  day 
which  marks  the  culmination  of  the  year's 
burden  of  noise.  The  Fourth  of  July,  like  the 
more  local  festivals  similarly  celebrated,  has 
stood  declared  in  recent  years  as  a  Moloch 
which  claims  its  yearly  toll  of  maimed  and 
dying  human  sacrifice.  Its  sins  lie  open  and 


THE  CITY'S  NOISE  261 

declared.  It  has  been  shown  again  and  again 
that  the  change  from  the  red  cracker  of  the 
day  before  to  the  smoke  and  noise  of  the  Fourth 
itself  produces  lists  of  killed  and  wounded 
greater  than  those  of  many  battles.  Those 
sorrowful  lists  tell  but  a  part  of  the  story.  If 
we  could  estimate  the  death  and  suffering 
from  the  noise  of  that  day,  who  doubts  that 
they  would  stretch  to  appalling  proportions  ? 
Three  hundred  and  sixty-odd  days  in  the  year 
we  shield  our  population  from  the  use  of  dan- 
gerous weapons  by  rigorous  laws.  On  two  or 
three  days  we  allow  not  only  men  and  women, 
but  even  little  children,  to  buy  explosives 
of  known  and  deadly  violence  without  let  or 
hindrance.  The  critics  who  call  the  United 
States  "  the  land  of  inconsistencies "  can 
scarcely  point  to  a  more  notable  example 
than  this. 

It  is  written  that  among  the  various  schools 
of  Grecian  philosophy  existed  one  known  as 
"The  Academy  of  Silence,"  composed  of  one 
hundred  men,  each  member  pledged  to  the 
purpose  of  the  school.  To  them  came  one 
seeking  admission.  Their  list  of  membership 
was  closed,  and  their  head,  calling  the  would- 
be  neophyte  before  the  assembled  audience, 


262         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

showed  him  without  a  word  an  urn  so  filled 
with  water  that  not  a  single  drop  could  be 
added.  The  neophyte,  reading  the  message, 
bowed  silently,  started  to  withdraw,  but  hesi- 
tated and  returned.  Picking  a  petal  from  a 
flower,  he  dropped  it  on  the  brimming  bowl 
so  dexterously  that  it  floated  without  dislodg- 
ing the  slightest  particle  of  the  liquid.  The 
membership  of  the  Academy  of  Silence  be- 
came one  hundred  and  one. 

Like  that  ancient  member  of  the  Society 
for  the  Suppression  of  Unnecessary  Noise, 
we,  who  wish  to  give  quiet  and  rest  to  the 
sick  in  crowded  ward  and  sick-room,  to  little 
children  and  wearied  workers,  must  work 
tactfully,  steadily,  effectively.  Then  will  quiet 
come. 


IX 

CITY  HOUSING  ABROAD 

FROM  the  long  columns  of  dusty  departmen- 
tal reports  I  garnered  the  text  which  follows. 
Eleven  thousand  men  in  Manchester,  England, 
tried  to  enlist  in  the  army.  Eight  thousand 
were  rejected,  two  thousand  were  accepted  for 
the  militia,  and  one  thousand  were  taken  for 
the  army.  With  that  record,  and  with  the  pos- 
sibility of  German  invasion  ever  before  her 
eyes,  is  it  any  marvel  that  Britain  sees  the 
shambling  hooligan  in  her  streets  with  a  grow- 
ing foreboding  of  the  future?  From  recruit- 
ing-officers of  the  army,  the  workshop,  the 
factory,  and  the  forge  come  like  tales  of  re- 
jection and  distrust.  A  remedy  is  needed,  and 
that  right  speedily.  As  one  part  of  that  remedy, 
European  leaders  of  both  the  peaceful  and  the 
militant  armies  are  striving  to  better  the  house 
in  which  a  man  is  born,  in  which  he  lives 
and  dies,  in  a  belief  that  environment  may 
be  closely  connected  with  personal  efficiency. 
They  have  sought  the  cause  which  has  pro- 


264         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

duced  the  defective  man  behind  the  gun  or 
machine.  They  have  found  that  housing  has 
a  direct  connection  with  the  welfare  of  every 
individual  in  the  state. 

Hardly  a  city  but  reports  a  desperate  lack 
of  proper  housing,  hardly  a  city  ward  but 
shows  that  marvelous  upspringing  of  indus- 
tries which  the  last  half  century  has  seen. 
There  is  a  close  relation  between  these  things. 
I  stood  with  a  German  on  a  height  crowned  by 
an  ancient  castle,  and  looked  out  over  the  plain 
below,  clotted  with  tall  chimneys.  "  The  old 
and  the  new,"  he  said,  pointing  backward  and 
forward.  "It  is  the  same  the  empire  over. 
Every  year  sees  thousands  more  of  those  spires 
that  mean  industrial  dominance  to  us."  That 
little  label,  "  Made  in  Germany,"  on  the  ware 
they  send  to  us  is  but  one  battle-cry  of  modern 
Germany.  Every  one  of  those  chimneys  means 
that  many  hands  are  busily  at  work  beneath, 
that  many  a  head  must  find  some  lodging  for 
the  night.  And  good  lodging  is  by  no  means 
as  easily  secured  as  good  chimneys.  Fires 
will  not  burn  without  good,  well-built  chim- 
neys, but  men  and  women  can  exist  in  rotting 
hovels. 

The  building  of  houses  has  by  no  means 


CITY  HOUSING  ABROAD  265 

kept  pace  with  building  of  chimneys.  From 
every  side  rises  the  cry  of  the  worker : 
"  Where  can  we  find  decent  housing  within 
the  bounds  of  our  wage?"  Driven  by  sheer 
lack  of  quarters  to  the  slum,  many  a  man, 
against  his  will,  adds  another  family  to  the 
rabbit-warrens  of  the  tenements,  crowding 
yet  more  what  was  already  overcrowded  almost 
beyond  endurance.  For  it  is  the  slum  only 
which  is  elastic.  The  houses  of  the  well-to-do 
are  not  the  ones  which  expand  to  take  in  the 
increase  of  population.  It  is  the  family  in 
two  rooms,  which,  driven  by  necessity,  gives 
up  one,  or,  even  when  crowded  into  one,  takes 
lodgers  in  those  narrow  quarters  to  help  pay 
the  rent.  Thousands  of  slum-rooms  do  double 
duty,  night  and  day.  No  sooner  are  the  night- 
sleepers  on  their  way  to  work  than  the  night- 
workers  enter,  and  their  places  are  filled  with 
sleepers  once  again.  "Overcrowding"  is  al- 
most synonymous  with  "slum." 

Were  this  crowding  into  narrow  quarters 
temporary,  it  might  be  better  borne,  but  the 
slum  has  the  tentacles  of  a  devilfish.  Once  it 
receives  its  prey  within  its  walls,  it  is  loath  to 
let  them  go.  Suppose  a  laborer,  sickened  with 
the  fetid  air  and  seeing  his  wife  and  children 


266         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

pine  before  his  eyes,  wishes  to  escape;  what 
opportunities  has  he  to  better  his  condition? 
Even  if  his  wage  allows  him  better  quarters, 
landlords  and  agents  of  better  buildings  often 
look  askance  at  new-comers  from  the  slums. 
And  small  indeed  is  the  percentage  whose 
wages  allow  them  to  spend  more  than  the 
minimum  for  rent.  From  one  end  of  Europe 
to  the  other,  permanency  of  occupation  for 
unskilled  labor  is  difficult  to  obtain.  The  cry 
of  the  unemployed  is  heard  on  every  hand. 
For  many  years  a  minimum  of  expenditure 
for  shelter  could  be  found  only  in  the  slum. 
It  is  one  of  the  master  achievements  of  the 
twentieth  century  that  here  and  there  doors 
of  escape  are  opening  even  for  the  men  with 
the  lowest  wage. 

It  has  been  often  proved  that  the  various 
barriers  by  which  the  slum  holds  its  people 
are  not  long  necessary.  By  imperceptible  but 
rapid  degrees  its  denizens  sink  into  apathy, 
and  develop  that  strange  malady  of  the  great 
modern  city,  the  slum-disease.  This  is  an  in- 
fection productive  of  infections,  a  contagion 
which,  as  it  spreads  through  the  slum,  creates 
new  slum-dwellers  as  it  passes,  leaving  its  vic- 
tims stricken  with  inertia,  slothf  ulness,  drunk- 


CITY  HOUSING  ABROAD  267 

enness,  criminality.  Marvelous  it  is,  and  worthy 
of  high  praise,  that  so  many  of  the  poor  escape 
these  characteristics.  Let  them  escape  or  not, 
one  and  all  suffer  equally  in  their  lack  of  re- 
sistance to  disease.  Malnutrition,  bad  air,  and 
overcrowding  swell  the  columns  which  tell  of 
tuberculosis,  pneumonia,  diphtheria,  and  every 
kindred  disease.  The  slum  is  the  great  culture- 
medium  of  civilization,  wherein  huge  cultures 
of  disease  are  growing,  ready  when  ripe  to  rise 
and  sweep  the  city  streets. 

Some  twenty  years  ago  Dr.  Russell  of  Glas- 
gow presented  figures  on  the  relation  of  the 
death-rate  and  overcrowding,  whose  brevity 
and  clarity  have  scarcely  been  surpassed 
since.  He  divided  all  the  families  of  the  whole 
city  of  Glasgow  into  three  classes.  In  families 
occupying  one  and  two  room  houses,  27.74 
died  out  of  every  1000 ;  in  families  occupying 
three  and  four  room  houses,  19.45  died  out 
of  every  1000;  in  families  living  in  houses 
of  five  rooms  and  over,  11.23  died  out  of 
every  1000.  Broadly  speaking,  these  figures 
mean  this :  that  for  every  two  mortals  who 
died  in  a  Glasgow  house  open  to  sun  and  air 
and  in  which  overcrowding  did  not  exist,  five 
died  in  the  slums.  Life  is  hard  for  the  slum- 


268         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

dwellers,  but  our  modern  cities  make  it  easy 
for  them  to  die. 

Conditions  are  hard  for  the  adult;  they 
are  much  harder  for  the  child.  St.  Mary's,  in 
Birmingham,  is  less  than  four  miles  from 
Bourneville.  Three  hundred  and  thirty-one 
infants  die  out  of  every  thousand  born  in  the 
crowded  city  ward.  Sixty-five  die  out  of  every 
thousand  born  in  the  model  village  of  Bourne- 
ville. Every  child  who  comes  into  the  world 
in  that  favored  village  has  more  than  five 
times  the  chance  of  life  that  the  wretched 
scraps  of  humanity  of  crowded  St.  Mary's 
possess. 

Lack  of  fresh  air  is  by  no  means  the  least 
evil.  According  to  many  authorities  we  require 
as  a  minimum  from  eight  hundred  to  a  thou- 
sand cubic  feet  of  fresh  air  per  hour  to  keep 
the  body-machine  in  efficient  working  order.  A 
room  twelve  and  a  half,  by  ten,  by  nine  and  a 
half,  is  a  good-sized  room  for  a  slum-quarter. 
Yet  the  number  of  cubic  feet  of  air  which  it 
contains  is  less  than  twice  the  amount  required 
for  health  by  the  average  person,  even  if  there 
is  not  a  stick  of  furniture  on  the  floor.  Add 
the  ordinary  amount  of  furniture,  every  piece 
of  which  subtracts  cubic  feet  from  the  total  air- 


CITY  HOUSING  ABROAD  269 

space,  and  put  four  people  in  the  room  instead 
of  two.  How  much  chance  does  each  have  of 
getting  the  minimum  amount  of  fresh  air,  even 
provided  the  air  can  be  completely  changed 
every  hour? 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  average  slum-house 
abroad  is  so  constructed  that  such  change  ia 
quite  impossible.  Any  one  who  has  struggled 
with  the  windows  in  provincial  continental 
houses  knows  that  they  are  not  made  to  open 
and  shut.  They  are  there  for  light,  or  for  deco- 
rative purposes.  They  are  certainly  not  there 
for  ventilation.  Not  only  are  they  difficult  to 
open  and  shut,  not  only  are  the  families  of  the 
slums  afraid  of  fresh  air  by  tradition  and  pre- 
cedent, but  the  very  buildings  of  the  crowded 
quarters  shut  off  the  possibility  of  proper  ven- 
tilation. Make  a  personal  experiment  the  next 
time  you  walk  down  a  narrow  city  street  on 
a  warm  day,  and  notice  the  window-shades. 
Those  on  the  top  floor  may  be  fluttering 
bravely,  while  those  at  the  bottom  are  still. 
Fortunately  for  England,  many  of  her  slums 
are  still  composed  of  buildings  which  are  from 
one  to  three  stories  in  height ;  but  the  tall  bar- 
rack-buildings of  the  continent,  which  are  more 
like  our  tenement  houses,  are  in  many  cases  as 


270         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

bad  as  anything  New  York's  streets  can  show. 
Ventilation  on  the  first  floor,  in  truth,  is  no 
simple  matter  in  the  slum.  There  the  open 
window  means  an  open  entrance  to  the  filth 
of  the  street,  which  is  the  common  dumping- 
ground  of  the  householders  along  the  way. 

Few  external  things,  indeed,  have  been  more 
discouraging  to  the  workers  in  the  slum  than 
that  same  habit  of  dumping.  And  yet  if  the 
tenants  of  the  crowded  street  scatter  garbage, 
they  do  so  chiefly  because  they  have  no  proper 
means  of  garbage-disposal.  Their  rooms  con- 
tain mixtures  of  food,  of  clothes,  and  of  refuse ; 
the  one  thing  that  cannot  be  found  in  them  is 
closets  for  storage.  Their  sanitary  habits  are 
outrageous, — and  no  small  number  of  English 
courts  and  German  alleys  provide  one  privy 
for  seven  or  more  families.  Their  dishes  and 
persons  are  unclean.  Often  one  faucet  will  sup- 
ply a  whole  court,  or  in  tall  barrack-buildings 
water  will  be  piped  only  to  the  first  floor.  A 
long  trip  for  water  tends  to  discourage  the 
morning  tub,  and  darkened  rooms  where  sun- 
light never  falls  give  little  impetus  to  cleanli- 
ness. 

Barred  from  sun,  air,  and  water,  those  three 
good  gifts  to  man,  how  can  the  people  of  the 


CITY  HOUSING  ABROAD  271 

slum  produce  men  and  women  capable  of  car- 
rying on  the  race?  For  years,  light,  air,  and 
water  have  formed  the  stock  example  of  free 
goods  for  the  economist.  They  are  no  longer 
free  in  the  slum.  The  narrow  streets  keep  their 
denizens  in  the  shadow.  The  high  walls  bar 
the  air.  Water  becomes  a  luxury  difficult  of 
attainment.  One  by  one  the  legislatures  of  the 
great  states  of  Europe  have  come  to  under- 
stand the  necessity  for  action.  This  chapter  con- 
siders particularly  the  work  of  Germany  and 
England. 

Judging  of  causes  by  results,  one  is  forced 
to  the  conclusion  that  the  welfare  of  the  indi- 
vidual German  citizen  is  the  immediate  con- 
cern of  the  empire.  The  coming  greatness  of 
Germany,  so  devoutly  foreseen  by  every  pa- 
triotic German,  seems  to  be  the  well-spring 
of  that  stupendous  mass  of  regulations  which 
tends  to  the  advancement  of  the  condition  of 
the  German  unit.  That  is  not  a  startlingly 
new  doctrine,  but  the  German  attitude  toward 
carrying  out  those  beliefs  shows  many  inter- 
esting applications.  The  German  workman 
who  is  ill  receives  medical  treatment,  his  fam- 
ily receive  all  necessary  aid.  He  is  obliged 
to  carry  insurance.  He  receives  his  old-age 


272         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

pension  when  he  can  no  longer  work.  All  these 
steps,  taken  for  the  welfare  of  the  state,  tend 
toward  the  improvement  of  the  efficiency  of 
the  individual.  It  is  another  step  in  this  di- 
rection for  the  German  municipality  or  the 
German  state  to  buy  land  and  build  houses 
for  the  workmen  within  its  borders,  and  to 
house  the  poor  at  rates  which  they  can  pay. 
To  create  a  healthy  proletariat,  the  govern- 
ment recognizes  that  it  must  eradicate  the 
slum.  Since  it  fully  realizes  that  in  this  civic 
disease,  as  in  cancer,  the  roots  lie  deep,  it  is 
ready  where  necessary  to  bring  the  full  weight 
of  its  authority  to  the  aid  of  better  housing. 
The  theory  that  the  municipality  or  the 
state  should  own  land  or  buildings,  and  receive 
revenue  therefrom,  is  older  than  feudalism. 
The  lands  about  the  castle  belonged  to  the 
castle's  lord.  The  free  cities  held  lands  and 
houses,  but  their  burghers  merely  stood  in 
the  place  of  prince  or  baron,  and  received 
the  rents  from  town-property  as  a  part  of  the 
normal  income  of  the  municipality.  Many  a 
city  of  continental  Europe  and  no  small  num- 
ber of  English  boroughs  unhesitatingly  drew 
blood-money  from  foul  tenements  within  a 
few  years.  It  is  only  in  recent  time  that  those 


CITY  HOUSING  ABROAD  273 

stains  have  begun  to  be  washed  from  those 
Augean  stables  by  the  waters  of  a  new  Alpheus 
and  a  new  Peneus. 

That  there  was  need  of  action,  a  few  figures 
from  reports  made  about  the  time  the  move- 
ment began,  in  1891,  will  show.  In  that  year 
Berlin  had  three  hundred  and  sixty-seven  thou- 
sand families  in  twenty-one  thousand  buildings, 
an  average  of  seventeen  families  to  each  roof. 
Scarcely  one  family  in  six  hundred  had  a  house 
of  its  own.  Of  the  total  population  of  Berlin, 
117,702  individuals,  or  seven  and  two  thirds 
per  cent,  lived  in  cellars.  Hamburg  was  nearly 
as  badly  off  in  this  respect.  Breslau,  Dresden, 
and  Magdeburg  each  had  nearly  one  half  of 
its  population  in  dwellings  containing  but 
one  room,  if  we  exclude  the  closet  called  the 
zubehor,  which  is  tiny  in  size,  has  no  means 
of  heating,  and  small  opportunity  for  ven- 
tilation. German  families  in  general  were 
housed  in  the  so-called  barrack-buildings, 
four  or  more  stories  in  height,  which  corre- 
sponded fairly  closely  to  our  tenement  houses. 
The  common  barrack-house  of  that  period 
was  wretchedly  deficient  in  water-supply,  its 
sanitary  accommodations  were  foul  and  inade- 
quate, and  the  possibilities  of  decent  family 


274         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

life  within  its  walls  were  at  a  minimum.  De- 
spite all  these  things,  the  cost  of  rent  was 
great,  often  averaging  as  high  as  one  third 
the  total  wage  received. 

Recognizing  that  the  immediate  necessity 
was  to  prevent  the  growth  of  new  slums,  the 
German  authorities  who  first  took  up  the  cru- 
sade began  work  by  passing  stringent  ordi- 
nances to  govern  the  erection  of  new  buildings. 
They  were  aided  in  the  successful  carrying 
out  of  these  measures  by  the  great  police 
powers  possessed  by  the  government.  Strin- 
gent requirements  for  strength  were  followed 
by  equally  stringent  requirements  for  fire-pro- 
tection. Believing  that  the  solid  building-up 
of  areas  causes  most  unhealthy  conditions, 
some  of  the  governments  allowed  only  two 
thirds  of  any  building-lot  in  certain  sections 
to  be  occupied  by  buildings.  That  regulation 
gave  the  children  of  the  poor  some  chance  to 
play,  and  gave  both  adults  and  children  far 
greater  chance  for  air  and  light.  The  dark 
interior  room  was  forbidden.  A  sufficient 
number  of  cubic  feet  for  change  of  air  was 
demanded  for  every  room.  Water-supply,  re- 
ceptacles for  garbage  and  ashes,  storage  for 
food  and  clothes,  were  brought  under  control 


CITY  HOUSING  ABROAD  275 

by  various  ordinances.  But  all  the  require- 
ments in  the  world  would  not  provide  fit 
houses  for  the  poor.  At  best  such  laws  serve 
mainly  to  guard  against  the  building  of  new 
unfit  houses.  Mere  ownership  of  municipal 
land  and  some  funds  to  use  in  connection 
with  the  work  were  not  sufficient.  There  was 
need  of  aggressive  tactics. 

The  plans  of  campaign  pursued  by  the  pro- 
gressive German  towns  may  be  summarized 
under  four  heads :  first,  town  planning,  the  use 
of  foresight  in  determining  the  inevitable  de- 
velopment of  the  cities ;  second,  the  building 
of  model  tenements  that  should  take  care  of 
deficiencies  in  housing,  serve  as  models,  sup- 
ply needed  balance-wheels  to  speculation,  or 
stimulate  activity  in  private  building;  third, 
the  encouragement  of  private  builders  and  of 
cooperative  building  societies;  and  fourth, 
the  demolition  of  the  slum,  either  by  destroy- 
ing old  buildings  and  replacing  them  by  new 
model  tenements,  business  offices,  or  parks, 
or  else  by  such  repairs  of  existing  dwellings 
as  would  make  the  old  houses  fit  for  sanitary 
use. 

Town  planning  is  by  no  means  a  new  con- 
ception, much  as  we  have  heard  of  it  in  recent 


276         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE   CITY 

years.  As  far  back  as  1668,  just  after  the  great 
fire,  Sir  Christopher  Wren  proposed  a  town 
plan  for  London.  In  its  provision  of  means  of 
communication  and  in  general  excellence  many 
of  the  details  of  his  general  scheme  are  not  ex- 
celled to-day.  He  proposed  that "  all  trades  that 
use  great  fires  or  yield  noisome  smells  be  placed 
out  of  the  town."  The  modern  scheme  sets 
down  such  removal  as  a  primary  necessity. 
Means  of  communication,  by  the  Wren  plan, 
were  to  be  considered  of  the  greatest  impor- 
tance, and  there  were  provisions  for  streets  of 
three  different  widths,  all  yielding  easy  access 
to  the  centre  of  the  city  where  stood  the  Ex- 
change. The  modern  plans  lay  great  stress  on 
rapid  transit  to  and  from  the  centre  of  the  city, 
believing  in  general  that  the  place  where  work- 
men should  live  is  in  garden  suburbs  encircling 
a  town  containing  manufactories,  stores,  and 
warehouses.  Wren  differentiated  his  roads  by 
separating  them  into  traffic  ways  and  residential 
streets.  The  first  were  to  be  wide,  costly,  and 
strongly  built  to  stand  heavy  wear  and  tear, 
the  second,  narrower,  less  costly,  and  built  for 
less  arduous  service.  The  new  methods  divide 
the  streets  into  three  classes:  first,  the  wide 
expensive  street  through  which  traffic  is  to  pass ; 


CITY  HOUSING  ABROAD  277 

second,  the  narrow  and  comparatively  inexpen- 
sive street ;  and  third,  what  may  be  called  the 
undetermined  street,  which  may  in  time  become 
a  traffic-route,  but  which  is  intended  prima- 
rily to  be  used  for  residences.  This  third  type 
of  street  may  be  built  inexpensively,  may  be  of 
narrow  width,  and  can  be  enlarged  at  a  mini- 
mum of  expense  because  of  the  foresight  shown 
in  its  construction.  Streets  of  this  class  are 
laid  out  with  gardens  in  front  of  all  houses. 
The  garden-space  can  be  added  to  widen  the 
thoroughfare  to  the  proper  width,  whenever 
it  becomes  necessary  to  expand.  Compare  this 
method  with  the  costly  American  habit  of 
building  up  narrow  streets,  with  the  enforced 
result  of  buying  both  buildings  and  land 
when  residential  streets  are  turned  to  traffic 
purposes. 

Nowhere  does  Wren's  foresight  seem  more 
prophetic  than  in  his  plans  for  redistricting  his 
ideal  city.  Even  two  centuries  and  a  half  ago, 
men  were  able  to  understand  that  the  close  re- 
lation between  cost  of  land  and  cost  of  rent  per 
room  of  any  building  on  that  land,  made  it  in- 
evitable that  dwellings,  where  offices  should  be, 
would  call  for  office-rents.  The  European  work- 
man is  housed  to-day  in  many  cities  on  land 


278         THE  HEALTH   OF  THE  CITY 

worth  from  twenty  thousand  to  eighty  thousand 
dollars  an  acre.  Only  by  building  on  every  pos- 
sible foot  of  such  land,  only  by  crowding  hu- 
man beings  into  every  available  inch  of  space, 
can  tenements  for  the  poor  pay  on  such  pro- 
perty. It  is  the  general  experience  of  foreign 
cities  that  it  is  wiser  to  replace  the  demolished 
slums  by  model  tenements  on  less  expensive 
land  outside  the  business  or  manufacturing 
section.  That  this  seems  advisable,  not  only 
from  financial  but  from  hygienic  grounds,  it  is 
hardly  necessary  to  question. 

Few  things  are  more  wastefully  expensive 
or  more  naturally  disorderly  than  a  large  pro- 
portion of  the  great  cities.  Huddled  together 
without  rhyme  or  reason  are  shop  and  factory, 
hovel,  barrack-house,  and  mansion.  The  Eu- 
ropean custom  of  living  above  the  shop  has 
exerted  no  small  influence  on  this  conglomer- 
ation. By  various  plans  the  Germans  are  trying 
to  sift  out  their  dwellings  from  the  chaotic  mass, 
sending  them  into  the  suburbs  and  leaving  the 
industries  grouped  in  the  centre  of  the  town. 
That  is  the  principle  behind  the  plans  for  the 
encircling  garden-suburb,  and  such  ideas,  to  be 
developed  by  building  laws,  exist  in  the  "  Zone 
System."  In  this  system  the  height  of  houses 


CITY  HOUSING  ABROAD  279 

and  the  proportion  of  the  lot  which  may  be  oc- 
cupied by  a  building  in  any  section  is  limited 
by  its  distance  from  the  centre  of  the  town.  The 
farther  a  zone  is  from  the  centre,  the  smaller  the 
number  of  houses  to  an  acre,  the  smaller  the  num- 
ber of  stories  allowed  to  a  house.  These  zones  are 
not  mathematical  circles:  a  zone  may  be  simply 
an  area  set  apart.  Such  regulations  naturally 
tend  to  group  the  factories.  In  Cologne,  for 
example,  buildings  in  the  centre  of  the  city  may 
be  five  stories  in  height  with  a  mansard.  In 
outer  portions  of  the  city  delimited  by  law,  no 
building  may  rise  over  three  stories  in  height, 
or  occupy  more  than  forty  per  cent  of  its  lot. 
Saxony  made  such  a  scheme  compulsory  for  all 
towns  in  1900 ;  and  Prussia,  before  that  time, 
by  a  suggested  plan  which  was  not  completely 
carried  out,  endeavored  to  limit  the  height  and 
number  of  houses  in  the  line  of  the  prevailing 
winds  which  blow  over  Berlin,  in  the  endeavor 
to  obtain  fresh  air  for  every  part  of  the  city. 
Various  German  communities  which  have  taken 
up  such  schemes  have  developed  especially  the 
placing  of  houses  in  such  a  way  as  to  obtain  a 
maximum  amount  of  sunshine,  and  have  made 
sure  that  space  should  be  left  for  parks,  for 
playgrounds,  and  especially  for  "the  garden 


280         THE  HEALTH  .OF  THE  CITY 

which  helps  to  pay  the  rent,"  as  one  of  the 
housing  pamphlets  puts  it. 

Few  minor  reforms  have  done  more  for 
the  general  health  than  such  encouragement 
of  gardens.  Dumps  and  waste  land  have  been 
reclaimed  by  the  allotment  system,  which  is, 
in  general,  the  parceling  out  of  small  lots 
on  the  edge  of  the  city  to  artisans  who  will 
promise  to  cultivate  them.  Prizes  for  the  best 
gardens  have  been  productive  of  good  results. 
Instruction  in  practical  gardening  has  inter- 
ested many  city-bred  men  and  women  who 
were  ready  to  work,  but  did  not  know  how  to 
begin.  The  allotment  system  of  distributing 
gardens  is  by  no  means  the  ideal  one,  however. 
It  is  the  little  garden  behind  the  house  which 
does  the  most,  which  engages  the  father's  spare 
time  before  and  after  work,  and  provides 
healthful  occupation  for  mother  and  child. 

Summarizing  the  most  enlightened  general 
regulations  of  Germany  which  have  to  do  di- 
rectly with  building  operations,  we  may  say 
that  their  general  trend  is  to  do  away  with 
speculation,  rigidly  to  control  the  builder 
who  is  building  for  investment,  and  to  give  the 
greatest  possible  freedom  to  the  individual 
who  desires  to  build  for  himself.  The  author- 


CITY  HOUSING  ABROAD  281 

ities  desire  to  encourage  individuality  and 
resourcefulness.  They  step  in  to  guard  the 
community  when  it  is  a  question  of  building 
in  the  mass.  The  limitation  of  dividends  on 
municipal  money  loaned  for  house-building ; 
the  leasing  of  lands  for  periods  of  years  with 
the  proviso  that  the  buildings  to  be  erected 
thereon  shall  become  town  property  at  the 
expiration  of  the  lease-period ;  the  reservation 
of  power  of  repurchase  and  of  power  to  break 
leases  in  cases  of  necessity,  have  all  shown 
enlightened  progress.  Most  of  these  projects 
have  already  shown  fruit  in  model  tenements 
containing  happier  and  healthier  citizens. 

All  these  things  cost  time  and  money.  Do 
they  pay  in  human  lives?  Is  the  efficiency 
sought,  obtained?  For  answer  take  the  death- 
rate  of  one  city,  Offenbach  am  Main,  which 
has  done  much  for  the  housing  of  its  citizens. 
In  the  ten  years  from  1870  to  1880  the  city 
death-rate  was  23.6  per  thousand.  From  1880 
to  1890  it  was  20.8.  From  1890  to  1900  it 
was  18.5.  In  1908  it  was  14.1.  Every  year  of 
the  last  decade  has  shown  increased  activity. 
Every  year  has  seen  the  death-rate  a  little 
lower.  In  that  one  German  city  modern  meth- 
ods, not  only  of  housing  but  of  general  im- 


282         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

provement  in  standards  of  living,  are  saving 
from  nine  to  ten  more  human  beings  out  of 
every  thousand  to-day  than  were  saved  thirty 
years  ago,  while  the  gain  in  efficiency,  in  the 
possibilities  of  life,  which  those  figures  denote, 
is  quite  immeasurable. 

No  nation  more  than  Germany  has  recog- 
nized that  the  bleakness  and  the  barrenness 
of  the  tenements  form  one  point  in  a  vicious 
circle  which  includes  drunkenness,  immorality, 
and  gambling,  which  makes  for  disease  and 
death.  None  have  done  more  in  fighting  the 
depressing  effect  of  slum-life  by  the  potent 
aids  of  pleasant  surroundings,  of  gardens, 
music,  and  incentives  to  out-of-door  life.  None 
have  understood  so  completely  that  good  hous- 
ing affects  each  member  of  a  family,  down  to 
the  tiniest  babe,  while  remission  of  direct 
taxes,  or  state  aid  of  many  other  sorts  given 
to  the  poor,  is  but  too  likely  to  result  in 
assistance  to  the  one  member  of  the  family 
who  needs  it  least,  —  to  the  head  of  the  family, 
alone. 

Much  of  the  work  of  England  has  pro- 
gressed along  lines  parallel  to  those  followed 
by  Germany.  Part  One  of  the  English  Hous- 
ing Act  (an  act  which  applies  also  to  Scotland 


CITY  HOUSING  ABROAD  283 

and  Ireland)  provides  for  wholesale  clearance 
of  slums  and  the  erection  of  model  municipal 
dwellings  in  their  place,  either  on  the  same 
spot,  or  in  cheaper  land  in  the  suburbs.  Part 
Two  of  this  Act  provides  for  the  compulsory 
setting  in  order  of  unfit  habitations  at  the 
owner's  cost,  and  for  the  demolishing  of  houses 
where  the  owners  refuse  to  act.  Houses  are 
seldom  demolished  under  this  provision.  The 
owners  almost  invariably  become  much  inter- 
ested in  better  housing  before  their  time-limit 
expires.  Part  Three  of  the  act  gives  power  to 
English  local  authorities  to  buy  land,  erect 
houses,  lay  out  open  spaces  for  gardens,  play- 
grounds, and  parks,  in  much  the  same  way  as 
is  now  being  done  by  the  municipalities  of 
Germany. 

According  to  figures  given  by  Nettlefold 
in  his  "Practical  Housing,"  the  cost  per  head 
of  rehousing  under  Part  One  of  this  Housing 
Act  varies  from  two  hundred  to  one  thousand 
dollars,  averaging  three  hundred  and  seventy- 
five  dollars.  His  lowest  average,  taken  for 
purposes  of  comparison,  is  given  as  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  dollars.  Against  this  is  placed 
the  cost  of  work  done  under  Part  Two  by 
Liverpool  and  Birmingham,  cities  which  paid 


284         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

less  than  seven  dollars  per  head  for  satisfac- 
tory rehousing.  The  average  cost  given  for 
purposes  of  comparison  is  taken  as  fifteen  dol- 
lars. Part  One  can  provide  better  houses  for 
a  small  number  of  people.  Part  Two  can  pro- 
vide fair  houses  for  a  vastly  greater  number. 
Many  of  the  believers  in  Part  Two  consider 
it  safe  to  state  that  at  least  fifteen  persons 
can  be  healthfully  housed  by  the  use  of  this 
scheme  to  one  that  can  be  so  housed  by  the 
use  of  Part  One. 

At  the  very  time  that  the  Lords  estranged 
the  Commons  by  their  revolutionary  refusal 
of  the  Budget,  they  passed  a  new  housing  act 
which  they  had  previously  practically  rejected. 
This  new  law  involves  sanitary  changes  of 
great  interest.  Every  county  council  appoints 
a  medical  officer  of  health,  who  is  to  have 
general  charge  of  the  health  of  the  county. 
This  officer  cares  especially  for  houses  unfit 
for  human  habitation.  As  a  most  important 
adjunct  to  this  executive,  provision  is  made 
for  a  committee  on  health  and  housing  con- 
ditions which  hears  all  matters  of  this  sort 
coming;  before  the  councils. 

o 

Far  greater  powers  have  been  given  by 
this  bill  to  all  officials  dealing  with  housing 


CITY  HOUSING  ABROAD  285 

questions,  and  tens,  almost  hundreds,  of  thou- 
sands of  additional  houses  have  been  brought 
under  the  law  which  provides  that  all  con- 
tracts for  houses  at  low  rents  shall  imply  that 
they  be  reasonably  fit  for  human  habitation 
at  the  beginning  and  through  the  term  of 
their  occupancy.  In  case  houses  of  this  type 
are  found  to  be  unfit,  the  authorities  may 
make  them  fit  and  recover  all  costs  from  the 
landlord. 

Cellar  dwellings  and  back-to-back  houses 
are  forbidden.  Town-planning  schemes  of 
magnitude  are  provided.  Powers  of  radical 
action  on  the  part  of  the  authorities  are  greatly 
enlarged,  and  many  additional  schemes  for 
the  betterment  of  the  housing  of  the  people 
are  laid  down. 

Sometimes,  across  the  riot  of  the  street 
comes  the  call  of  Pan.  Then  heath  and  hill- 
top, dawn  across  the  snow  and  the  long  twilight 
of  the  summer  solstice,  pull  at  the  heartstrings 
of  the  city-dweller.  What  if  a  land  could  be 
where  every  city  was  a  garden  where  children, 
as  one  poor  waif  once  told  me,  "could  see 
the  whole  sky,"  learn  the  world  of  bird  and 
flower,  and  come  to  manhood  and  womanhood 
free  from  the  sordid  handicaps  of  city  ways? 


286         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

For  those  who  long  for  "  the  whole  sky  "  and 
trust  in  its  beneficence,  it  is  a  pleasant  duty 
to  record  some  few  details  which  deal  with 
"  Garden  Cities"  which  have  sprung  up  outside 
the  smoke  and  grime  of  English  towns.  Under- 
lying these  various  projects  are  basic  ideas 
worthy  of  citizens  of  Altruria.  They  require 
that  the  property  be  highly  restricted,  that 
the  number  of  houses  built  on  each  acre  be 
limited  sufficiently  to  give  each  householder 
pleasant  and  healthful  surroundings,  and  that 
these  houses  shall  be  placed  among  green- 
swards where  children  may  play  and  old  people 
dream.  They  demand  that  all  the  services 
necessary  to  community  life  shall  be  rationally 
and  wisely  developed,  that  all  building  and 
planning  shall  consider  both  the  hygienic  and 
the  aesthetic  possibilities,  and  that  the  joys  of 
country  life  shall  be  combined  with  the  advan- 
tages of  the  city.  Baling,  Bourneville,  Port 
Sunlight,  the  Letch  worth  Garden  City,  Har- 
borne,  Hampstead, — '-each  of  these  settlements 
contains  many  of  the  elements  of  the  ideal 
garden  city.  Of  this  list  two,  Bourneville  and 
Port  Sunlight,  owe  their  existence  to  the 
public  spirit  of  two  men,  —  Bourneville  to  Mr. 
George  Cadbury,  Port  Sunlight  to  Mr.  W.  H. 


CITY  HOUSING  ABROAD  287 

Lever.  Rivals  in  a  worthy  strife,  the  cottages 
at  both  Port  Sunlight  and  Bourneville  are 
models  of  architecture  and  sanitation.  Plenty 
of  sun,  air,  and  water,  gardens  and  garden- 
allotments,  gymnasia,  children's  playgrounds, 
swimming-baths,  social  clubs,  good  schools, 
and  neat,  well-ordered  shops,  make  both  these 
villages  of  great  interest  to  any  student  of 
the  housing  problem. 

In  1909  the  outlay  on  Port  Sunlight  was 
stated  to  have  been  something  more  than  two 
million  and  a  half  dollars.  It  would  have  been 
no  slight  task,  with  that  enormous  expense, 
to  make  the  village  a  self-supporting  financial 
success;  but  this  has  not  been  attempted.  As 
the  houses  are  intended  to  supply  homes  for 
the  workers  in  the  Lever  Brothers  Company, 
rents  have  been  fixed  simply  to  cover  taxes, 
repairs,  and  upkeep.  The  annual  cost  to  the 
firm  of  the  maintenance  of  the  village  is  many 
thousands  of  dollars  a  year ;  but  it  is  the  strong 
belief  of  the  employers  that  their  expenditures 
here  are  returned  manifold  in  the  better  con- 
ditions of  the  employees,  the  permanency  of 
the  staff,  and  the  attraction  of  many  excellent, 
workers  to  the  plant  because  of  the  possibili- 
ties of  life  in  the  town. 


288         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

Bourneville,  made  over  to  a  board  of  trustees 
as  an  absolute  gift,  by  Mr.  Cadbury,  is  increas- 
ing the  scope  of  its  original  work  by  means 
of  the  surplus  revenue  in  the  trustees'  hands. 
Open  to  workers  outside  the  Cadbury  Cocoa 
Works,  Bourneville  has,  for  considerably  more 
than  half  its  householders,  men  who  work  in 
other  places,  and  who  are  entirely  independent 
of  the  cocoa  factory.  From  six  shillings  and 
sixpence  a  week  to  seven  shillings  and  sixpence 
will  house  a  worker  well.  Detached  houses  can 
be  obtained  at  rentals  ranging  from  thirty  to 
forty  pounds,  and  every  tenant  is  a  landed 
man,  for  every  cottage  has  a  private  garden. 
This  is  all  planted  before  it  is  turned  over  to 
a  tenant,  and  two  expert  gardeners,  with  a 
staff  of  employees,  care  for  the  general  garden- 
work  of  the  village  and  stand  ready  to  advise 
each  individual  householder.  Is  it  any  wonder 
that  no  tenant  leaves  unless  he  is  obliged  to 
do  so,  and  that  there  is  a  permanent  waiting- 
list  large  enough  to  occupy  every  house,  were 
all  suddenly  vacated?  Mr.  Cadbury  himself 
says  that  the  great  work  of  the  future  must 
be  to  enable  the  poor  "  to  remove  from  the 
squalor  and  temptations  of  city  life  and  settle 
amid  the  wholesome,  helpful  sights  and  sounds 


CITY  HOUSING  ABROAD  289 

of  country  life.  In  a  word,  the  people  must  be 
brought  back  to  the  land." 

Translate  the  word  "land  "  into  "  suburbs," 
carry  your  people  of  the  slum  away  from  the 
pavement  into  the  light  and  air  on  the  outskirts 
of  the  town,  and  these  sentences  show  the 
solution  of  the  housing  problem  in  which  I 
most  believe. 

The  Lever  Brothers'  policy  of  building 
houses  for  their  employees,  to  be  rented  at 
practically  nominal  rents,  attractive  as  it  is  in 
many  ways,  is  open  to  serious  objections.  In 
this  particular  case  some  of  these  objections 
are  met  by  Mr.  Lever's  partnership  schemes. 
Others  are  basic.  We  have  seen,  in  no  very 
distant  time,  newspapers  filled  with  accounts  of 
homeless  men,  women,  and  children  driven  into 
the  winter  cold  by  general  eviction  from  cor- 
poration-owned houses.  One  of  the  evils  which 
has  stirred  England  most  of  recent  years  has 
been  the  complaint  of  agricultural  laborers: 
"  Lose  work,  you  lose  your  house."  Few  things 
make  more  for  self-respecting  independence 
than  for  a  man  to  own  his  own  domicile.  When 
his  home  is  owned  by  his  employer,  when  the 
same  period  sees  the  loss  of  work  and  of  home, 
the  impetus  to  such  independence  loses  heavily. 


290         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

The  action  of  Mr.  Cadbury,  who  has  insisted 
from  the  first  on  making  his  houses  produce 
a  fair  return  in  rentals,  who  has  released  all 
personal  claims  to  Bourneville,  turned  the 
houses  over  to  a  board  of  trustees,  and  opened 
the  estate  to  all  who  wish  to  come,  is  far  to  be 
preferred.  If  corporations  are  to  enter  upon 
the  building  of  houses  to  better  the  condition 
of  their  employees,  they  can  scarcely  do  more 
wisely  than  to  follow  the  Bourneville  plan.  If 
they  cannot  follow  the  great  philanthropy  of 
Mr.  Cadbury,  let  them  invest  their  money  in 
sanitary  houses,  rented  at  such  rates  as  will 
bring  them  in  a  fair  return,  and  then  give 
the  control  of  the  houses  over  to  an  absolutely 
disinterested  board  of  trustees.  They  will 
thereby  gain  the  primary  object — the  im- 
provement of  the  condition  of  the  workers — 
without  leaving  open  the  possibility  of  strife 
which  may  otherwise  occur. 

One  thing  more  should  be  mentioned  in 
this  connection.  There  seems  to  be  a  tendency 
to-day  towards  centralization  of  industries,  a 
movement  by  which  many  great  capitalistic 
enterprises,  gradually  closing  their  scattered 
plants,  are  striving  to  save  money  and  effort 
by  concentrating  in  single  spots.  Such  a  move- 


CITY  HOUSING  ABROAD  291 

ment  is  likely  to  bring  about  a  dangerous 
condition  for  the  employee  who  owns  his  own 
home.  With  the  consequent  shifting  of  pop- 
ulation, the  skilled  worker,  forced  to  move  with 
the  industry  and  owning  his  own  house,  is  left 
with  his  property  tied  up  in  a  form  difficult 
of  ready  realization.  No  small  number  of  soci- 
ologists are,  therefore,  advising  such  workmen 
to  invest  their  savings  elsewhere.  To-day  it  is 
at  least  questionable  if  this  danger  is  so  great 
that  we  can  spare  the  impetus  to  betterment 
of  life  which  comes  from  ownership  of  the  land 
one  lives  upon.  What  ten  or  twenty  years  more 
will  show,  we  cannot  tell.  Here  as  elsewhere 
in  the  city  we  may  have  to  run  some  future 
danger  for  present  good.  It  is  possible,  how- 
ever, that  many  of  the  good  effects  of  individ- 
ual ownership  may  be  secured  by  such  modified 
cooperation  as  is  shown  by  some  of  the  European 
cooperative  societies,  such  as  the  Berlin  Savings 
and  Buildings  Society,  which  operates  in  and 
around  Berlin,  and  the  Baling  Tenants  Lim- 
ited, now  a  part  of  the  Co-Partnership  Tenants 
Societies,  at  Ealing,  just  outside  of  London. 
The  magnificent  buildings  of  the  Berlin 
society,  though  of  the  city-block  type,  possess 
many  striking  advantages.  Sheltering  in  their 


292         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

Hasler  Street  buildings  as  many  as  a  thousand 
families,  each  family  can  obtain  three  large 
rooms  for  one  hundred  dollars  a  year.  (The 
Rixdorf  tenements  just  outside  Berlin  provide 
four  model  rooms  for  one  hundred  and  twenty 
dollars  a  year.)  In  these  buildings  the  problem 
of  keeping  the  children  off  the  street  is  solved 
by  the  expedient  of  providing  sunny  inner 
courtyards  and  playgrounds.  Ornamental  gar- 
dens were  first  planned,  but  the  authorities  in 
control  soon  decided  that  a  garden  of  children 
was  better  worth  cultivating  than  a  garden  of 
flowers,  and  the  whole  space  was  turned  over 
for  play  purposes.  Flowers  are  not  neglected, 
however:  the  balconies  are  full  of  them  and 
the  whole  side  of  the  building  is  gay  with 
bloom.  One  more  point  in  this  connection. 
The  Germans  know  far  more  than  we  do  con- 
cerning possible  economies  of  space.  Take  the 
roof  of  a  model  tenement,  for  example.  It  may 
hold  baths,  lockers,  laundries,  playgrounds, 
drying-rooms,  and  many  of  the  more  general 
offices  of  the  house. 

If  on  some  sunny  London  morning  you 
should  roll  down  through  Marylebone  to  Pad- 
din  gton  station  and  start  due  west  from  the 
great  city,  you  would  be  headed  for  the  most 


CITY  HOUSING  ABROAD  293 

famous  of  the  cooperative  settlements  of  Eng- 
land —  Baling.  Draw  a  line  from  Harrow  on 
the  Hill  to  the  point  where  the  Thames  makes 
one  of  its  snakiest  twists  at  Kew,  place  your 
pencil  two  thirds  of  the  way  down  the  line, 
and  you  have  located  it  again ;  the  point  of 
all  this  geographical  labor  being  to  show  the 
first  necessity  of  a  suburban  community  — 
proximity  to  the  metropolis. 

The  Baling  Tenants  Limited  is  a  concrete 
expression  of  a  belief  in  cooperative  ownership 
and  administration.  First  shares  in  the  under- 
taking may  be  bought  by  incoming  members 
at  ten  pounds  each,  and  every  tenant-member 
must  take  in  the  end  not  less  than  five  shares, 
an  equivalent  to  the  cost  of  the  land  on  which 
his  house  is  placed.  It  is  evident  that,  if  co- 
operative housing  is  to  do  good  to  the  people 
who  need  it  most,  money  must  be  brought  in 
from  outside.  The  society,  therefore,  divides 
its  capital  into  two  parts,  the  shares  just  men- 
tioned and  the  loan-stock  which  the  society 
has  power  to  issue.  How  this  scheme  .has  re- 
sulted is  evinced  by  the  fact  that  five  per  cent 
has  been  paid  on  shares  and  four  per  cent  on 
loan-stock  from  the  very  beginning  of  active 
operation.  Nor  is  that  all.  The  company  has 


294         THE  HEALTH   OF  THE  CITY 

been  able,  in  addition,  to  accumulate  an  un- 
divided surplus  to  care  for  unexpected  losses 
and  repairs.  The  ideal  of  this  community, 
like  that  of  the  other  associations  making  up 
the  Co-Partnership  Tenants  Societies,  is  to 
have  the  tenants  say,  "This  estate  is  ours," 
not,  "This  house  is  mine."  In  other  words, 
they  desire  to  have  a  general  ownership  of  the 
whole  plant  by  rent-paying  tenants  as  a  body, 
instead  of  having  each  individual  family  hold 
the  title  to  its  own  house. 

The  purposes  of  the  Co-Partnership  Socie- 
ties which  follow  are  well  worth  quoting  spe- 
cifically. "To  secure  suitable  sites;  to  build 
suitable  houses ;  to  let  the  houses  at  moderate 
rents ;  to  pay  a  moderate  rate  of  interest  on 
the  capital  invested;  to  divide  the  surplus 
profits  among  the  tenant  members  in  proportion 
to  the  rents  paid  by  them  after  such  charges 
as  maintenance,  depreciation,  and  repairs  have 
been  met;  to  have  every  tenant-member's 
profits  paid  to  him.  in  shares  until  the  total 
so  paid  is  equal  in  value  to  the  value  of  the 
house  in  which  he  resides ;  to  pay  the  total 
amount  to  him  in  cash  when  such  equalization 
is  secured."  It  would  prove  hard  to  draw  up 
a  broader  or  sounder  programme. 


CITY  HOUSING  ABROAD  295 

Since  the  great  mass  of  surplus  profits  is 
held  as  a  part  of  the  capital,  such  a  system 
makes  for  the  safety  of  capital  and  for  regu- 
larity of  dividends.  Since,  by  the  wholesale 
buying  of  building  supplies,  as  high  as  twenty 
per  cent  of  the  total  cost  has  been  secured, 
the  system  makes  for  radical  reductions  in 
cost  as  well.  As  the  cost  of  interior  repairs 
is  chargeable  against  the  individual  tenant's 
profits,  such  repairs  are  kept  at  a  minimum. 
Since  the  profit  to  every  tenant  depends  on 
the  general  profit  of  the  whole,  each  member 
becomes  an  ardent  agent  for  the  property. 
Since  rents  in  Baling  are  below  market-value 
and  the  tenants  enjoy  many  of  the  advantages 
of  the  garden  city,  the  task  of  the  amateur 
real-estate  agents  is  not  difficult.  Best  of  all, 
every  member  of  the  society  is  getting  returns 
from  something  which  costs  him  time,  energy, 
and  a  moderate  amount  of  money,  all  of 
which  things  make  him  value  the  opportunity 
presented  to  him  far  more  than  any  tenant 
can  value  purely  philanthropic  aid. 

One  word  of  caution  should  be  spoken  be- 
fore we  leave  the  topic  of  cooperative  effort 
in  its  various  forms.  The  word  "  cooperation," 
as  used  commonly  in  housing  literature  and 


296         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

as  transferred  to  these  pages,  is  a  rather  loosely 
defined  term.  It  is,  at  best,  a  modification  of 
the  broader  principle  of  genuine  cooperation, 
which  still  remains  a  somewhat  altruistic  ideal. 

In  housing,  as  elsewhere  in  municipal  re- 
form, we  are  but  too  likely  to  forget  the  per- 
sonal side.  The  reducing  of  flesh  and  blood 
to  statistics  and  generalizations  too  often 
withers  that  full  course  of  sympathy  necessary 
in  affairs  which  deal  with  human  lives.  The 
understanding  of  human  nature  which  shines 
through  the  record  of  the  achievements  of 
Miss  Octavia  Hill  is  of  especial  value  to  the 
man  or  woman  who  wishes  to  give  personal 
aid. 

From  small  beginnings  Miss  Hill's  work  has 
spread  from  house  to  house  and  district  to 
district,  until  thousands  of  dwellings  owned 
by  many  different  corporations  and  individuals 
have  now  passed  into  her  governing  hand. 
Invariably  those  houses  have  produced  satis- 
factory financial  returns  and  have  provided 
good  homes  for  the  tenants.  As  an  educational 
policy  the  system  is  almost  unrivaled.  Briefly 
stated,  it  follows. 

The  slum  houses  which  pass  under  Miss 
Hill's  control  are  first  carefully  inspected  to 


CITY  HOUSING  ABROAD  297 

determine  whether  or  not  it  is  possible  to  put 
them  in  a  fit  condition  for  use.  When  a  scheme 
for  renovation  has  been  decided  upon,  certain 
portions  of  the  most  necessary  repairs,  such 
as  the  mending  of  roofs  and  the  bettering 
of  the  water-supply  and  drainage,  are  carried 
out.  The  tenants  are  then  given  an  opportu- 
nity to  use  the  benefits  thus  conferred,  with 
the  understanding  that  those  who  use  them 
well  will  be  given  more,  while  those  who  use 
them  ill  will  be  obliged  to  leave.  The  allure- 
ment of  struggling  for  a  prize  never  wholly 
dulls  to  any  of  us.  When  such  personal  bene- 
fits are  aided  by  a  bonus  for  prompt  payment 
of  rent  and  a  tactful  though  persistent  cam- 
paign of  education,  a  swift  reformation  is 
likely  to  result.  Thereupon  the  work  of  chang- 
ing wretched  dwellings  into  thoroughly  com- 
fortable houses  is  hurried  forward  as  rapidly 
as  funds  will  admit.  The  money  for  such  re- 
pairs is  obtained  by  an  equalization  of  the 
rights  of  landlord  and  tenant.  Five  per  cent 
income  only  is  paid  to  the  owner,  no  matter 
what  the  return  on  the  investment  may  be. 
At  least  four  per  cent  has  been  steadily  re- 
turned up  to  the  present  time.  All  money 
received  above  this  sum,  after  charges  for  in- 


298         THE  HEALTH   OF  THE  CITY 

surance,  taxes,  and  maintenance  have  been 
met,  is  applied  to  the  betterment  of  the  houses. 
The  tenant,  therefore,  has  every  interest  in 
keeping  up  with  his  rent  and  reducing  unne- 
cessary repairs. 

To  obtain  such  results  elsewhere,  it  might 
prove  necessary  to  build  up  a  system  of 
control  similar  to  that  established  by  Miss 
Hill.  Her  collectors  and  inspectors  are  trained 
women,  who  are  required  to  use  that  some- 
what rare  sixth  or  common  sense,  and  who 
have  developed  an  extraordinary  amount  of 
tact  in  dealing  with  their  difficult  task  of 
training  the  tenants  to  help  themselves. 

Successful  as  are  many  plans  for  improv- 
ing houses  in  the  centre  of  the  city,  there  can 
be  little  question  that  the  great  possibilities 
of  the  future  lie  in  the  development  of  the 
suburbs.  No  general  misconception  has  been 
more  insistent  or  unfortunate  than  the  old 
one  that  the  workman  must  live  beside  his 
work.  Of  a  great  part  this  is  true,  but  of 
thousands  of  city  workers  it  is  untrue.  The 
chief  obstacle  to  suburban  development  is  now, 
and  will  remain,  the  lack  of  a  cheap  and 
rapid  transit  which  provides  a  seat  for  every 
passenger.  Belgium  by  its  development  of 


CITY   HOUSING  ABROAD  299 

a  complete  system  of  inexpensive  workmen's 
trains  has  already  shown  the  way  in  which 
such  cheap  and  rapid  transit  can  build  up  a 
whole  countryside.  The  progression  of  this 
kingdom  on  the  theory  that  the  provision  of 
workmen's  trains  is  as  necessary  a  part  of  the 
functions  of  a  railroad  as  the  carrying  on  of 
a  freight  department,  has  produced  a  remark- 
able exodus  to  the  country  from  the  city.  A 
workman's  round-trip  weekly  ticket  (twelve 
rides)  for  a  six-mile  trip  on  the  Belgian  rail- 
roads can  be  obtained  for  less  than  a  quarter. 
Thirty  cents  a  week  will  buy  such  a  ticket  to 
and  from  a  station  twelve  miles  out.  Fifty 
cents  will  take  a  man  back  and  forth  every 
day  for  a  week  from  a  station  thirty  miles  out. 
As  a  result  of  this  policy,  ten  years'  compara- 
tive record  showed  an  increase  of  the  number 
of  these  tickets  sold  from  about  1,200,000 
to  about  4,400,000.  Belgian  villages  by  the 
score  act  as  bedrooms  for  the  workers  of  the 
city ;  and  thus  the  high  wages  of  the  city  are 
combined  with  the  economic  advantages  of 
the  country.  Speaking  of  the  work  already 
accomplished,  Professor  Emile  Vanderwelder 
wrote  as  follows  some  time  ago,  in  an  article 
in  "  Soziale  Praxis  "  :  — 


300         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

"  Enter  Hesbaye  or  Flanders  from  whatever 
side  one  may,  the  country  is  everywhere  thickly 
strewn  with  white  red-roofed  houses,  some  of 
them  standing  alone,  others  lying  close  to- 
gether in  populous  villages.  If,  however,  one 
spends  a  day  in  one  of  the  villages,  —  I  mean 
one  of  those  in  which  there  is  no  local  indus- 
try,—  one  hardly  sees  a  grown-up  workman 
in  the  place,  and  almost  believes  that  the  pop- 
ulation consists  almost  entirely  of  old  people 
and  children.  But  in  the  evening  quite  a  dif- 
ferent picture  is  seen.  We  find  ourselves,  for 
example,  some  twelve  or  thirteen  miles  from 
Brussels  at  a  small  railway  station  in  Brabant, 
say  Bixensast,  Genval,  or  La  Hulpe.  A  train  of 
inordinate  length,  consisting  almost  entirely 
of  third-class  carriages,  runs  in.  From  the 
rapidly  opened  doors  stream  crowds  of  work- 
men in  dusty,  dirty  clothes,  who  cover  all  the 
platform  as  they  rush  to  the  doors,  apparently 
in  feverish  eagerness  to  be  the  first  to  reach 
home  where  supper  awaits  them.  And  every 
quarter  of  an  hour,  from  the  beginning  of 
dusk  till  well  into  the  night,  trains  follow 

O         ' 

trains,  discharge  part  of  their  human  freight, 
and  at  all  the  villages  along  the  line  set  down 
troops  of  workmen — masons,  plasterers,  pav- 


CITY  HOUSING  ABROAD  301 

iors,  carpenters  with  their  tool-bags  on  their 
backs." 

Gather  the  skeins  together,  follow  each  clue 
to  its  end,  and  the  investigator  is  forced  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  housing  hope  of  the 
future  lies  outside  the  city  walls.  The  vision 
of  the  time  to  come  shows  suburbs  circling 
massed  workshops,  homes  set  in  green  trees 
and  surrounded  by  playgrounds  and  fertile 
gardens.  Costly  land  is  used  for  business. 
Cheap  land  is  held  for  dwellings.  Nor  is  that 
vision  so  remote  and  fanciful  that  we  must 
consign  it  with  a  sigh  to  a  longed-for  distant 
day.  There  is  a  pressing  problem  to  be  solved, 
one  that  reaches  up  to  you  as  you  walk  along 
the  street,  work  at  your  desk  or  bench,  or 
sleep  in  your  home,  —  the  providing  of  health- 
ful homes  for  every  citizen  of  the  community. 
There  is  no  fallacy  more  abominable  than  the 
one  which  declares  that  "  that  which  is  must 
be."  Because  the  slum  exists  is  no  reason  for 
its  continuance.  Let  in  the  light  of  scientific 
fact  upon  the  problem,  and  the  waste  places 
shall  be  filled  and  the  children  lift  up  their 
hands  to  the  sunshine  of  a  coming  day. 


CITY  HOUSING  IN  AMERICA 

IN  the  war-office  of  the  modern  city,  head-quar- 
ters of  the  fight  for  health,  for  housing,  and 
for  like  reform,  hang  party-colored  campaign 
maps,  whose  tints  expose  the  strongholds 
of  the  foe.  Study  one  of  them  for  a  space. 
On  streets  beneath  that  bar  of  crimson  rages 
a  fell  disease.  There,  below  that  spot  of  blue, 
another  holds  its  sway.  That  smear  of  yellow 
covers  a  district  where  the  victims  of  a  third 
are  dying  by  the  score.  There  is  but  little  color 
in  the  suburbs.  There  the  white  background 
of  the  map  shows  many  a  district  clear.  Look 
towards  the  centre  of  the  city.  As  your  eye 
runs  inward,  note  how  the  stains  group  closer 
and  closer  together.  They  are  deep  upon  the 
slum. 

The  close  connection  between  the  slum 
and  disease  is  too  patent  for  question.  Some 
of  the  tuberculosis  exhibits  show  an  intermit- 
tent incandescent  light  burning  upon  the  wall. 
Twice  every  minute,  one  hundred  and  twenty 


CITY  HOUSING  IN  AMERICA         303 

times  every  hour,  it  flames  and  fades.  Above 
it  a  placard  reads :  "  A  human  being  dies  from 
tuberculosis  each  time  this  light  goes  out." 
Watch  that  changing  filament  for  a  brief 
space  and  project  its  burning  through  each 
hour  of  the  day,  each  day  of  the  year.  You 
may  suddenly  remember  that  tuberculosis  is 
but  one  of  the  diseases  that  flourish  rankly 
in  the  slum. 

I  have  spoken  previously  of  the  slum  as 
a  culture-medium  of  disease.  To  how  slight 
an  extent  that  is  a  figure  of  speech,  the  re- 
cords given  above  may  partly  show.  Take  the 
crusade  against  tuberculosis,  for  example.  No 
campaign  was  ever  fought  more  bitterly, 
and  yet  authorities  tell  us  that  this  disease 
can  never  be  stamped  out  until  we  disinte- 
grate the  crowded  masses  of  the  city.  The 
prison  of  the  state  and  the  prison  of  the  slum 
are  our  two  most  overcrowded  centres  to-day. 
According  to  Dr.  Knopf,  mortality  from  tu- 
berculosis among  prisoners  is  three  times  as 
high  as  it  is  among  the  general  population. 
Next  to  the  prisons  in  providing  fertile  soil 
for  the  growth  of  this  disease  comes  the  chief 
home  of  the  American  workman,  the  tenement 
house. 


304         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

The  old  crone  in  the  doorway,  peering 
through  the  watching  group,  exclaimed, "  Sev- 
enteen ! "  as  the  coffin  came  down  the  steps 
into  more  sunlight  than  its  occupant  had  ever 
seen  in  its  former,  dark,  unclean  ill-ventilated 
home.  "Eight  families  and  this  the  seven- 
teenth brought  out  from  that  door.  God  be 
good  to  us,  but  it's  a  haunted  house!"  She 
crossed  herself  as  I  passed  on,  noting  the 
number  and  street.  The  woman  spoke  the 
truth.  One  after  another,  seventeen  had  died 
in  that  one  dwelling  from  tuberculosis.  Nine- 
teen in  a  like  space  was  the  record  of  an- 
other. Two  hundred  and  four  cases  of  the 
same  disease  occurred  in  twelve  New  York 
houses  in  eight  years.  And  these  were  direct 
cases  only.  How  many  others  were  infected 
from  the  poor  wretches,  dying  in  those  narrow 
quarters,  who  can  tell. 

"  Where  the  sun  does  not  enter  the  doctor 
does,"  say  the  Italians.  We  know  to-day  that 
the  micro-organisms  responsible  for  tubercu- 
losis die  in  a  few  hours  in  cleanliness  and  in 
direct  sunlight.  They  perish  in  a  few  days 
in  cleanliness  and  ordinary  diffused  window- 
light  in  a  light  room.  They  will  live  long 
in  darkness,  damp,  and  filth.  We  know  in 


CITY  HOUSING  IN  AMERICA         305 

addition  that  tuberculosis  is  a  contagious  dis- 
ease, whose  spread  is  greatly  assisted  by  over- 
crowding and  bad  air.  The  reason  why  houses 
are  haunted  by  the  dread  plague  lie  open  to 
all  who  know  the  lack  of  space,  air,  and  light 
in  the  slum.  Poor  is  the  air  of  those  streets. 
Poor  as  it  is,  the  windows  are  stuffed  with 
rags  and  paper  to  keep  it  out,  through  all 
the  winter  months.  Small  is  the  amount  of 
sun  which  reaches  over  the  high  roofs  of  the 
tenement  houses  and  falls  upon  the  cloudy 
panes.  Slight  as  that  is,  many  are  the  rooms 
where  sunlight  never  penetrates.  New  York 
alone  has  over  one  hundred  thousand  dark 
living-rooms,  absolutely  without  windows; 
the  same  proud  city  has  a  little  less  than 
three  hundred  thousand  without  sufficient 
light  or  sunshine,  while  over  twenty-five  thou- 
sand New  York  families  live  in  cellars.  Those 
facts  are  so  horrible  that  comment  becomes 
superfluous. 

Our  foreign  critics  have  a  habit  of  referring 
to  us  as  a  nation  whose  methods  of  appeal 
lie  through  the  pocket-book.  Whether  that 
charge  is  true  or  not,  there  is  no  question 
that  he  who  can  show  a  saving  to  the  tax- 
payer offers  one  of  the  strongest  arguments 


306         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

that  can  be  advanced  in  favor  of  any  reform. 
The  Committee  on  Congestion  of  Population 
in  New  York,  in  the  course  of  its  investiga- 
tions, has  been  taking  up  an  analysis  of  the 
budget  of  the  city  in  an  attempt  to  ascertain 
definitely  the  economic  cost  to  tax-payer  and 
rent-payer  of  such  congestion  as  now  exists, 
and  of  the  lack  of  a  city  plan.  The  ten  parts 
into  which  the  committee  divides  its  research 
consider  the  economic  waste  from  preventable 
disease,  the  cost  of  hospitals,  orphanages,  and 
similar  institutions,  and  the  expense  to  the 
individual  citizen  of  the  city's  failure  to  pro- 
vide playgrounds,  means  of  transit,  and  traffic- 
ways  at  times  when  they  could  be  cheaply 
obtained.  The  first  of  these  ten  investigations, 
the  economic  waste  from  certain  preventable 
diseases,  has  been  completed  and  published. 
Some  of  its  conclusions  follow. 

Preventable  disease  has  cost  New  York  from 
thirty-seven  to  forty-one  millions  of  dollars  a 
year  for  the  last  four  years.  $166,248,408.24 
is  the  total  estimate  of  the  wealth  poured  out 
in  these  four  years  for  wasteful  pain  and  suf- 
fering. For  millions  of  that  great  total  the 
tenement  house  is  directly  responsible.  If  we 
could  only  have  that  money  for  playgrounds, 


CITY  HOUSING  IN  AMERICA         307 

for  the  renewing  of  the  city !  Remember  that 
those  millions  represent  a  steady  drain  on  the 
community  as  a  whole,  that  your  prosperity 
depends  on  the  prosperity  of  your  own  city 
and  of  other  cities,  and  that  such  constant 
leakage  must  affect  you  individually.  Nor 
need  it  necessarily  affect  you  indirectly.  The 
child  who  sickens  after  a  ride  in  the  cars,  the 
skilled  employee  whose  illness  means  delay 
and  loss  to  your  business,  the  fellow  worker 
whose  labors  must  be  added  to  your  own  while 
he  is  ill,  the  employer  whose  death  means  a 
reorganization  that  sends  you  searching  for 
another  position,  the  business  associate  whose 
loss  sets  back  the  clock  of  your  progress,  — 
each  and  all  are  woven  into  the  threads  of 
your  life.  The  disease  which  affects  them  af- 
fects you.  If  housing  reform  cuts  down  the 
total  of  disease,  it  safeguards  you. 

The  golden  dreams  of  the  immigrant  turn- 
ing for  freedom  and  help  to  our  shore,  to 
that  great  "  Melting-Pot "  of  which  Mr,  Zang- 
will  has  written,  must,  one  fears,  be  doomed 
to  some  disappointment.  Too  often,  however, 
disappointment  turns  to  a  tragic  certainty. 
Suppose  a  little  band  of  immigrants,  leaving 
some  continental  village,  starts  on  the  ever 


308         THE  HEALTH   OF  THE  CITY 

new  discovery  of  the  west.  The  entrance  to 
this  country  must  raise  their  hopes.  If  they 
come  on  one  of  the  newer  steamers,  thanks  to 
federal  law,  more  space,  light,  and  air,  more 
healthful  surroundings,  are  granted  to  the 
incomer  on  shipboard  than  the  municipality 
will  assure  him  when  he  reaches  land.  The 
incoming  human  wave  which  breaks  upon  our 
shores  sends  its  scattered  spray  to  many  cities. 
Too  little  reaches  the  country.  Too  much 
stays  in  the  city-slum.  It  is  entirely  natural 
that  this  should  be  the  case,  and  that  the  enter- 
ing foreigner  should  seek  a  dwelling  in  some 
locality  where  his  own  tongue  sounds  kindly 
to  his  ears.  So  the  Italian,  at  whatever  port 
he  lands,  hastens  to  Little  Italy,  the  Russian 
seeks  Little  Russia,  and  the  Hungarian  finds 
lodging  in  Little  Hungary. 

Division  of  this  sort  makes  housing  prob- 
lems in  the  United  States  more  complex  than 
those  which  many  European  cities  show.  Model 
tenements  here  cannot  receive  tenants  chosen 
at  random  in  the  same  fashion  as  can  Berlin 
or  London.  Difference  of  race  and  type,  even 
difference  of  locality  forbids,  for  the  Italian 
from  the  North  must  have  his  quarters  sepa- 
rated from  the  Italian  of  the  South,  and  one 


CITY  HOUSING  IN  AMERICA         309 

tribe  from  that  strange  mixture  of  races  called 
Russia  may  be  the  ancient  enemy  of  another. 
Evidently,  our  attack  on  this  problem  must 
include  some  selective  processes.  Before  we 
can  consider  general  or  special  methods,  how- 
ever, we  must  know  something  of  the  condi- 
tions which  surround  us. 

Laying  aside  for  a  time  the  vexing  questions 
raised  by  such  a  conglomeration  of  types  as 
inhabit  our  slums,  let  us  see  what  quarters 
the  little  band  of  immigrants  is  apt  to  find  if, 
as  might  well  happen,  each  unit  of  the  group 
is  bound  to  some  one  of  our  great  cities. 
Tracing  the  steps  of  each  wandering  family, 
we  find  that  one  stops  at  the  gateway,  in  New 
York,  one  turns  to  Boston,  one  to  Buffalo, 
three  others  south  to  Philadelphia,  Baltimore, 
and  Washington,  while  the  rest  push  onward 
to  the  west,  to  Cleveland,  Chicago,  and  St. 
Louis.  Their  separation  will  indicate  the  con- 
ditions now  existing  in  a  selected  group  of 
the  cities  of  the  eastern  half  of  the  United 
States. 

The  family  which  stopped  first,  in  New 
York,  stands  the  least  chance  of  a  happy  and 
healthy  life.  In  1905  the  state  census  reported 
one  hundred  and  twenty-two  blocks  of  that 


310         THE  HEALTH   OF  THE  CITY 

city  with  a  density  of  seven  hundred  and  fifty 
per  acre  or  over,  and  thirty  blocks  with  a 
density  of  one  thousand  or  over,  spread  over 
the  whole  of  Manhattan.  Since  1905  hundreds 
of  those  houses  have  been  raised  from  one  to 
four  stories  in  height,  and  the  total  number 
per  acre  has  risen  in  some  cases  to  sixteen 
and  seventeen  hundred.  The  somewhat  un- 
common density  of  one  thousand  to  the  acre, 
of  1905,  has  become  a  common  occurrence. 
What  does  a  density  of  one  thousand  per  acre 
mean  to  you  reading  this  article  in  your  own 
home?  Assume  that  you  are  in  a  suburban 
house,  with  a  lot  sixty  by  seventy-two  feet. 
That  means  ten  houses  to  the  acre.  Think  of 
the  ten  houses  immediately  around  you  and 
see  whether  they  will  average  more  than  six 
persons  to  each  house.  If  not,  there  is  a  den- 
sity of  sixty  to  an  acre.  If  you  are  reading 
this  in  a  four-story  apartment  house  standing 
on  a  lot  whose  total  area  is  three  thousand 
feet  and  in  which  every  apartment  contains  an 
average  of  five  persons,  you  are  taking  your 
part  in  producing  a  density  of  population  of 
about  two  hundred  and  ninety  to  the  acre. 
In  both  these  cases  density  is  figured  exclusive 
of  streets  and  open  spaces.  When  these  are 


CITY  HOUSING  IN  AMERICA         311 

included,  conditions  become  worse.  Even  the 
last  conditions  cited  are  too  crowded.  What 
is  the  result  when  you  place  a  thousand  or 
fifteen  hundred  people  where  there  is  scarcely 
room  for  three  hundred?  To-day  in  New  York 
there  is  acre  after  acre  on  which  thirteen  hun- 
dred persons  live  their  crowded  lives;  where 
there  are  ten  persons  to  every  seven  rooms; 
where,  instead  of  the  minimum  of  eight  hun- 
dred and  eighty  feet,  there  is  but  four  hundred 
cubic  feet  of  air  for  each  adult  and  but  two  hun- 
dred for  a  child;  where  only  one  room  out  of 
four  receives  direct  sunlight.  The  immigrant 
who  stops  in  New  York  stands  but  little  chance 
of  length  of  days  under  such  conditions. 

In  its  crowded  districts  New  York  presents 
one  more  example  of  that  unfortunate  state 
of  affairs  where  the  poor  man,  living  on  land 
which  is  far  too  expensive  for  dwellings,  is 
forced  into  narrow  quarters  from  the  compel- 
ling exigency  of  a  narrow  purse.  Over  and 
over  again  one  truism  appears.  House  your 
laborer  on  expensive  land,  and  you  will  have 
overcrowding  because  his  wage  will  pay  for 
but  a  little  space.  House  him  on  cheap  land, 
and  the  money  which  bought  four  walls  be- 
fore will  buy  a  home.  The  dumb-bell  tene- 


312         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

ment  (sometimes  called  the  double-decker), 
into  whose  darkened  doorway  our  immigrant 
is  likely  to  pass,  is  unsurpassed  for  wretched- 
ness in  any  great  city  of  the  world.  Strange 
to  say,  it  is  an  example  of  ill-directed  reform. 
In  December,  1878,  after  a  spasm  of  housing 
interest  in  New  York,  prizes  were  offered  for 
plans  of  the  best  model  tenement  house  that 
could  be  secured.  To  the  horror  of  thousands 
at  that  time,  and  of  hundreds  of  thousands 
since,  the  dumb-bell  tenement  was  awarded 
the  first  prize.  From  1879  to  1901  city  block 
after  city  block  was  filled  solidly  with  these 
buildings.  Mistakenly  advised  as  a  model  plan 
to  builders  who  knew  no  better,  f  ulfilling  every 
purpose  of  the  man  who  was  ready  to  exploit 
human  lives  for  money,  the  dumb-bell  tene- 
ment is  responsible  for  an  appalling  roll  of 
deaths,  and  for  an  extraordinary  waste  of  effi- 
ciency. Its  name  is  derived  from  the  fact  that 
it  narrows  in  the  centre  and  expands  at  the 
ends  like  a  huge  dumb-bell,  and  its  expansion 
fills  the  street  both  front  and  rear.  Its  narrowed 
centre  gives  room  for  that  misnamed  feature, 
the  air-shaft.  That  shaft  has  been  variously 
called  a  garbage-hole,  a  dirt-trap,  an  ash-bin, 
and  a  destroyer  of  privacy.  It  has  never  proved 


CITY  HOUSING  IN  AMERICA         313 

its  right  to  the  name  of  air-shaft.  Without 
an  intake  at  the  bottom,  how  long  would  any 
chimney  draw  ?  The  air-shaft  is  like  a  chimney 
without  an  intake.  It  is  but  one  of  the  evils 
of  the  dumb-bell.  Seven  stories  high,  with 
four  rooms  in  the  front  apartment;  three 
rooms  in  the  back ;  with  one  room  of  the  front 
apartment  open  to  the  street  and  one  room  of 
the  rear  apartment  opening  on  twenty  feet  or 
so  of  back  yard;  with  inside  rooms  facing  on 
an  air-shaft  whose  wall  is  less  than  five  feet 
away  from  the  windows  of  the  next  house, — 
these  are  some  of  the  characteristics  of  the 
habitations  which  house  a  large  portion  of  the 
citizens  of  the  greatest  city  of  the  Western 
Hemisphere. 

The  building  of  the  dumb-bell  tenement 
was  stopped  in  1901,  and  regulations  provid- 
ing for  the  erection  of  new-law  tenements, 
with  large  courts  designed  to  provide  natural 
light  and  ventilation  for  every  room  in  the 
house,  were  made.  No  window  was  to  open 
within  twelve  feet  of  any  other  window.  The 
practical  results  of  this  law  have  hardly  equaled 
its  theoretical  possibilities.  In  October,  1908, 
the  Committee  of  One  Hundred  held  a  Citi- 
zens' Exhibit  showing  conditions  in  New  York 


314         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE   CITY 

under  Tammany.  One  of  the  placards  on  the 
wall  read  as  follows :  — 

THERE  ARE  IN  NEW  YORK  APPROXIMATELY 
300,000  LIVING-ROOMS  WITHOUT  ADEQUATE 
LIGHT  AND  VENTILATION.  ONLY  ONE  IN 
FOUR  OF  THE  ROOMS  IN  THE  NEW-LAW  TENE- 
MENTS HAS  ADEQUATE  SUNSHINE.  ON  MAY 
1, 1909,  THERE  WERE  16,006  OLD  BUILDING  VIOLA- 
TIONS SLEEPING  IN  THE  CORPORATION  COUN- 
SEL'S OFFICE.  1563  CASES  WERE  OVER  4  YEARS 
OLD.  2283  CASES  HAD  BEEN  NEGLECTED  ONE 
YEAR.  4578  CASES  HAD  BEEN  NEGLECTED  OVER 
6  MONTHS.  THERE  WERE  35,000  VIOLATIONS  OF 
THE  TENEMENT-HOUSE  LAW  ON  THE  BOOKS  OF 
THE  TENEMENT-HOUSE  DEPARTMENT.  BLAME 
TAMMANY  FOR  THESE  CONDITIONS.  AND  FOR 
YOUR  HEALTH'S  SAKE  — 

VOTE  TAMMANY  OUT! 

That  placard  is  but  one  more  example  of  the 
oft-told  tale  that  regulation  without  appropria- 
tion and  enforcement  does  not  regulate. 

No  part  of  our  group  of  immigrants  is  likely 
to  suffer  so  greatly  as  the  family  that  stopped 
at  New  York.  The  new-comers  who  came  to 
Boston  have  a  wider  choice,  but  they  may  find 
lodging  in  certain  quarters  of  the  city  where  con- 
ditions are  fully  as  bad  as  any  in  the  greater  com- 
munity. There  is  more  opportunity  for  proper 
housing,  should  American  surroundings  so 
improve  the  family's  financial  condition  as  to 


CITY  HOUSING  IN  AMERICA         315 

enable  them  to  move  into  the  far  more  acces- 
sible suburbs.  Those  who  live  in  the  centre  of 
the  city  must  crowd  into  houses  with  but  little 
more  light  and  air  than  they  would  get  in  the 
dumb-bells  of  New  York.  The  bbvine  street 
superintendents  who  are  said  to  have  first  laid 
out  Boston's  thoroughfares  did  a  poor  enough 
piece  of  work  in  the  business  quarters  of  the 
city.  They  did  their  worst  in  the  old  North 
End,  whence  once  the  finest  residences  of  the 
city  overlooked  the  bay ;  where  now  are  slums, 
whose  narrow  winding  alleys  cut  off  whatever 
advantage  of  light  and  air  the  houses,  lower 
by  two  or  three  stories  than  those  of  New 
York,  possess.  Nor  is  overcrowding  any  better 
in  lower  houses  than  in  higher  ones.  There  are 
1672  persons  on  an  acre  in  five  and  six  story 
houses  in  New  York.  There  are  1143  persons 
on  an  acre  in  three  and  four  story  houses  in 
the  North  End  of  Boston. 

If  one  could  imagine  the  head  of  a  family, 
which  goes  west,  studying  the  figures  which 
tell  of  congestion  of  population,  Chicago, 
with  its  average  density  of  only  21.09  to  the 
acre,  would  seem  a  free  and  open  city  for  him 
to  choose.  These  figures,  however,  are  most 
misleading.  The  city  of  Chicago  contains 


316         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

122,011  acres  within  its  limits.  Thousands  of 
these  acres  are  but  sparsely  settled.  Tens, 
almost  hundreds,  of  them  in  the  centre  of 
population  are  either  overcrowded  or  on  the 
edge  of  overcrowding.  Congestion  in  Chicago 
is  developing  with  amazing  rapidity.  In  an 
investigation  of  six  selected  blocks,  one  half 
had  three  persons  to  a  room,  one  fourth  had 
two  persons  to  every  room.  That  means  that, 
if  two  rooms  are  occupied  by  four  people,  all 
four  are  commonly  in  the  bedroom  at  night. 
Such  overcrowding  is  not  all.  Add  to  it  the 
tendency  to  cover  eighty  or  ninety  per  cent  of 
the  whole  lot  with  dwellings,  and  the  chance 
of  air  and  light  grows  small  indeed. 

Lot-covering  is  not  peculiar  to  Chicago : 
it  exists  in  all  great  cities.  Profitable  to  the 
purse  of  the  landlord,  it  is  wasteful  of  the  life 
of  the  tenant.  Every  built-up  yard  drives  chil- 
dren to  the  street,  cuts  off  light,  and  obstructs 
the  current  of  air.  According  to  many  experts 
there  is  no  central  city  lot  on  which  dwellings 
should  cover  more  than  from  sixty-five  to 
seventy  per  cent  of  the  total  area.  More  open 
space  may  be  advisable,  depending  on  local 
conditions.  Less  open  space  does  harm  to  the 
city. 


CITY   HOUSING  IN  AMERICA         317 

St.  Louis  gives  no  great  promise  to  the  new- 
comer. In  an  investigation  recently  carried 
on  by  the  Civic  League  of  that  city,  one  half 
the  houses  in  the  negro  quarter  were  declared 
unfit  for  human  habitation.  The  Polish  quar- 
ter had  an  average  of  thirteen  persons  to  four 
rooms,  and  a  number  of  lots  were  found  which 
were  wholly  covered  by  buildings.  Cleveland 
reports  that  one  third  of  all  the  buildings 
in  one  of  its  slum-districts  should  not  be 
permitted  to  exist.  Philadelphia,  the  vaunted 
"  City  of  Homes,"  specializes  in  one-room 
"housekeeping  apartments,"  where  whole  fam- 
ilies, often  containing  from  four  to  seven 
members,  eat,  sleep,  cook,  and  live  in  a  single 
room.  Buifalo  presents  a  Polish  quarter,  whose 
buildings  are  chiefly  small,  individual,  wooden 
houses  seldom  more  than  two  and  a  half  stories 
high.  This  city  offers  an  interesting  proof  of 
the  fact  that  overcrowding  is  not  synonymous 
with  high  brick  tenements.  In  its  frame  houses 
live  thousands  of  Poles,  who  crowd  together 
like  bees  in  a  hive.  Two,  three,  four,  five,  even 
six  and  seven  families  gather  under  the  same 
roof  in  small  houses  whose  space  is  no  more 
than  sufficient  for  a  single  family.  Such  build- 
ings, however,  have  one  great  advantage  over 


318         THE  HEALTH   OF  THE  CITY 

the  ordinary  tenement.  They  are  open  to  the 
air. 

In  both  Baltimore  and  Washington  the 
alley-problem  is  the  most  pressing  evil  which 
needs  reform.  Alley-house  and  rear  tenement 
alike  offer  one  great  barrier  to  correction :  they 
are  out  of  the  public  eye.  Sanitary  reform  is 
difficult  behind  a  sheltering  screen,  and  it  has 
no  more  active  agent  than  publicity.  So  long 
as  noisome  alleys  and  rotting  rear  tenements 
exist,  so  long  will  vice  and  crime  find  a  home 
and  a  citadel  whence  they  may  sally  forth. 
Either  of  these  conditions  can  find  but  one 
remedy,  demolition.  They  cannot  be  cured  by 
halfway  measures.  Centres  of  decay,  the  knife 
is  the  only  way  of  cleansing  the  body  politic 
from  the  corruption  which  they  engender. 

The  various  characteristics  of  the  slums, 
high  death-rate  and  premature  old  age,  moral 
degradation,  drunkenness,  and  thriftlessness, 
difficulty  of  family  life  and  utter  lack  of  com- 
munity spirit,  are  produced  by  a  mixture  of 
causes.  The  tenement  house  and  its  allies  are 
not  alone  responsible  for  all  these  things. 
Poor  food,  water,  and  air,  drunkenness  and 
gambling,  each  of  these  plays  its  part ;  but 
overcrowding  is  a  powerful  factor  which  is 


CITY  HOUSING  IN  AMERICA         319 

the  genesis  of  many  other  evils.  So  long  as  the 
slum  exists,  the  piers  of  our  city  structures 
must  rest  on  quicksand. 

How  largely  topographical  conditions  in- 
fluence the  making  of  a  slum  is  hard  to  tell. 
Manhattan's  long  tongue  of  land,  fenced  in 
by  its  limiting  rivers,  is  very  probably  respon- 
sible for  some  part  of  the  overcrowding  of  New 
York.  It  is  hardly  fair,  however,  to  throw  the 
whole  onus  of  blame  on  topography  alone, 
when  such  serious  conditions  obtain  in  other 
cities.  Mr.  Lawrence  Veiller  considers  that  a 
large  part  of  the  trouble  came  originally  from 
the  short-sighted  policy  of  the  authorities, 
who  utterly  neglected  to  provide  dwellings 
for  the  horde  of  immigrants  who  have  poured 
through  the  open  gates  of  the  continent  for 
so  many  decades.  Enforced  regulations  have 
long  been  lacking.  Slipshod  methods  have  en- 
abled evils  to  gain  the  upper  hand,  and  have 
produced  their  ill  results  in  housing,  as  in 
other  city  needs.  So  long  as  man  is  allowed 
unchecked  to  wring  exorbitant  profits  from 
the  scanty  pittance  of  the  poor,  so  long  will 
men  be  found  to  do  it. 

Much  of  the  necessary  body  of  building 
regulation  has  been  outlined  by  American 


320         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

and  foreign  experiment.  It  seems  an  absurdly 
evident  proposition  that  the  area  of  air-shafts 
and  courts  should  increase  in  proportion  to 
the  height  of  the  building.  Even  a  child, 
building  a  play-house  in  a  pasture,  will  en- 
large its  area  as  the  rock  wall  goes  higher. 
Even  a  child  has  wisdom  enough  to  see  that 
the  higher  wall  will  cut  off  sunshine  from  the 
ground  within,  if  the  space  be  narrow,  and 
that  his  room  will  be  damp  and  cold  in  con- 
sequence. The  child  in  carrying  out  his  build- 
ing operations  shows  more  intelligence  than 
the  combined  wisdom  of  many  municipal  de- 
partments displays.  They  have  not  yet  awak- 
ened to  the  fact  that  every  additional  story 
of  a  building,  rising  into  the  air,  necessitates 
larger  open  spaces  on  the  ground.  Back-to- 
back  tenements,  which  quite  forbid  thorough 
ventilation,  may  still  be  built  in  many  cities ; 
lots  may  be  wholly  covered  with  buildings ; 
rear  tenements  may  be  placed  behind  front 
tenements ;  and  when,  as  in  the  case  of  New 
York,  houses  are  built  originally  at  the  back 
of  a  lot,  with  a  front  garden,  the  march  of 
building  movement  may  fill  such  garden- 
spaces  with  brick  and  mortar. 

There  is  no  great  difference  in  the  need 


CITY  HOUSING  IN  AMERICA         321 

of  light,  of  air,  or  of  water  in  the  case  of  a 
tenant  who  lives  in  Chicago,  in  Pittsburg,  in 
Washington,  or  in  Boston.  General  sanitary 
regulations  for  general  needs  may  be  made 
which  can  cover  any  city ;  yet  local  conditions, 
topographical  and  sociological,  must  determine 
local  laws.  The  twenty-five  foot  lot  binds  New 
York  to  a  definite  procedure.  The  desire  of 
tenants  in  many  quarters  to  have  one  room 
open  on  the  street  makes  impracticable  in  this 
country  some  of  the  inner-courtyard  plans 
which  have  been  successful  abroad.  The  long- 
ing for  street  windows  is  probably  due  to  the 
fascinations  of  the  unfailing  picture-show  of 
the  city  street,  which  seems  never  to  weary  the 
observers  who,  with  elbows  crossed  upon  the 
sills,  crowd  their  casements  for  hours.  Give 
them  far  greater  measure  of  convenience  in 
other  ways,  give  them  double  window-space, 
opening  on  a  courtyard,  and  they  will  still  long 
for  the  sights  and  sounds  of  the  street.  More- 
over, the  intangible  chains  of  social  procedure 
are  powerful  in  the  tenements.  In  many  dis- 
tricts the  occupant  of  a  rear  tenement  which 
does  not  look  out  upon  the  street  is  considered 
the  social  inferior  of  the  occupant  of  a  precisely 
similar  apartment  with  street  frontage  and  situ- 


322         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

ated  on  the  same  floor.  Ridiculous!  Yes!  But 
is  it  any  more  ridiculous  than  some  of  the  rules 
of  precedence  nearer  the  top  of  the  social  lad- 
der? Since  such  conditions  exist,  it  behooves 
the  reformer  at  least  to  recognize  strong  bar- 
riers of  social  prejudice,  which  may  be  easily 
evaded  but  hardly  surmounted. 

Among  the  more  general  housing  regula- 
tions, there  are  two  for  which  the  city  is  es- 
pecially responsible,  the  service  of  municipal 
water  and  the  protection  against  fire.  That  such 
primary  necessities  of  existence  as  water-closets 
should  be  used  in  common  by  whole  tenement 
houses  is  one  of  the  burning  shames  of  our 
community  life.  There  are  numerous  tenement 
houses  to-day  where  water  has  never  been  put 
in  above  the  first  floor.  Imagine  shopping  with- 
out an  elevator,  and  then  think  of  the  weari- 
ness of  those  long  flights  to  tired  women  and 
little  children !  Even  where  water  is  piped  to 
every  floor,  a  common  water-closet  and  a  com- 
mon sink  often  supply  the  needs  of  four  apart- 
ments, which  may  house  from  eight  to  twelve 
whole  families,  to  say  nothing  of  lodgers.  In 
the  slums,  as  too  often  in  apartment  houses  far 
from  the  slum-classes,  the  water-closet  venti- 
lates on  an  air-shaft  used  also  to  ventilate  bed- 


CITY  HOUSING  IN   AMERICA         323 

rooms.  In  still  other  cases  the  water-closet  is 
placed  directly  in  the  bedroom.  Manchester, 
England,  requires  that  every  room  used  for  such 
purposes  must  have  a  window  opening  on  the 
outside  air,  with  an  area  of  at  least  one  foot  by 
two.  Detroit  requires  that  the  water-closet  com- 
partment be  open  to  the  outer  air,  or  be  venti- 
lated by  a  shaft  which  is  not  used  for  ventilat- 
ing any  habitable  room.  Several  cities  demand 
that  no  water-closet  shall  be  placed  in  the  yard 
or  the  cellar.  Some  of  the  most  enlightened 
have  reached  the  point  of  requiring  one  for 
each  family  or  each  separate  apartment.  In 
general,  the  infamous  "  school  sinks  "  and  other 
cheap  substitutes  for  modern  plumbing  are  for- 
bidden. Violations  of  these  ordinances,  how- 
ever, like  those  of  many  other  laws  made  for 
the  protection  of  the  city's  health,  are  far  too 
common. 

That  cleanliness  is  not  a  necessity  of  existence 
has  been  proven  by  the  slums  for  many  years. 
It  is  a  forbidden  luxury  to  most  of  them.  That 
it  is  necessary  for  healthful  life,  few  will  deny. 
The  way  to  provide  opportunities  for  cleanli- 
ness in  the  houses  of  the  poor  is  by  no  means 
settled,  but  the  great  mass  of  opinion  is  on  the 
side  of  the  individual  set  tub.  Nor  need  the 


324         THE  HEALTH   OF  THE  CITY 

tubs  be  confined  to  clothes-washing  alone.  A 
movable  partition  and  stout  supports  improvise 
a  bath-tub  which,  though  scarcely  as  convenient 
as  a  porcelain  one,  is  by  no  means  to  be  de- 
spised where  space  and  cost  must  be  considered. 
If  clothes  are  to  be  washed,  it  is  practically  a 
choice  between  the  cooperative  laundry,  to  be 
used  in  common  by  all  tenants,  and  the  indi- 
vidual set  tub ;  and  the  cooperative  method  has 
shown  one  interesting  example  of  failure  which 
hardly  encourages  its  adoption. 

The  cooperative  laundry  built  by  the  Lon- 
don County  Council  for  their  Boundary  Street 
buildings,  at  an  expense  of  over  fifty  thousand 
dollars,  has  never  from  the  first  proved  a  suc- 
cess. The  tenants  of  those  buildings  would  not 
wash  in  public  where  their  neighbors  could  see 
and  criticise  the  quantity,  quality,  and  appear- 
ance of  their  clothes.  There  appeared  to  be  no 
objection  to  hanging  out  the  clothes  to  dry  in 
a  common  space  after  they  were  washed,  but 
the  preliminaries  must  be  done  in  private. 

I  have  seen  one  tenement-house  fire :  I 
hope  I  may  never  see  another.  It  was  an  ob- 
ject lesson  which  makes  the  heading,  "An- 
other Tenement-House  Fire.  Two  Lives  Lost," 
a  real  and  vital  thing  which  overshadows  even 


CITY  HOUSING  IN  AMERICA         325 

politics  and  the  financial  page.  That  is  such 
a  common  heading,  too  !  How  common  was 
shown  vividly  by  the  investigation  of  Hugh 
Bonner  and  Lawrence  Veiller  a  few  years 
ago  on  the  relation  between  tenement  houses 
and  fire.  All  the  records  of  fires  which  oc- 
curred throughout  the  city  during  a  period 
of  two  years  and  a  half  were  examined,  to 
determine  the  type  of  buildings  in  which 
most  of  the  fires  occurred.  Sixty  thousand 
records  were  searched  to  determine  the  general 
method  of  the  spread  of  fires  in  tenement 
houses.  Nearly  one  half  of  the  total  fires, 
during  the  period  chosen,  occurred  in  tene- 
ment houses,  although  this  type  of  house 
composed  but  thirty-seven  per  cent  of  the 
total  buildings  of  the  city.  Forty-two  per  cent 
of  all  the  buildings  of  the  city  at  that  time 
were  dwellings  holding  not  more  than  two 
families,  yet  such  dwellings  furnished  only 
fourteen  per  cent  of  the  total  fires.  The  tene- 
ment house  is  more  than  a  centre  of  infection  : 
it  is  a  fire-centre  as  well.  The  way  in  which 
the  flames  spread  in  the  cases  of  serious  tene- 
ment-house fires  shows  how  much  destruction 
and  loss  of  life  is  due  to  construction.  Twenty- 
six  per  cent  of  all  such  fires  spread  through 


326         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

the  air-shaft;  five  per  cent  through  the  air- 
shaft  combined  with  the  halls  and  stairs ; 
twenty-four  per  cent  through  flooring  or  par- 
titions; twenty  per  cent  through  halls  and 
stairs ;  one  fourth  of  all  the  fires  started  in 
the  cellar.  From  those  figures,  taken  in  New 
York,  we  may  obtain  an  indication  of  the 
lines  which  should  be  taken  in  freeing  the 
tenements  from  this  scourge. 

Fireproofing  throughout  is,  of  course,  the 
ideal  solution  of  the  fire-problem.  It  is  very 
doubtful  if  it  is  practical  in  the  tenements. 
Construction  of  this  sort  is  so  expensive  that 
its  general  application  would  mean  a  rise  in 
rents  and  a  consequent  diminishing  of  other 
necessities  which  would  make  conditions  worse 
than  they  have  been.  The  analysis  of  Bonner 
and  Veiller  just  cited  shows  three  points 
which  need  especial  protection  —  stairs,  hall- 
ways, and  shafts.  If  those  natural  chimneys 
can  be  safeguarded,  if  we  can  obtain  fireproof 
floors  and  fireproof  partitions  between  cellars 
and  first  floors,  we  shall  have  eliminated  no 
small  portion  of  the  probable  difficulty. 

After  all  those  changes  have  been  made, 
however,  enough  has  not  been  done.  Interior 
egress  is  not  sufficient ;  exterior  egress  should 


CITY  HOUSING   IN  AMERICA         327 

also  be  provided.  In  only  too  many  cities, 
the  laws  which  require  adequate  fire-escapes 
have  been  systematically  ignored ;  only  too 
often  when  escapes  have  been  raised,  they 
have  been  wholly  inadequate  for  their  pur- 
pose. At  the  time  of  the  investigation  just 
cited,  there  were  approximately  two  thousand 
persons  in  one  New  York  ward  living  in  tene- 
ment houses  wholly  without  fire-escapes.  In 
the  same  district  were  many  fire-escape  balco- 
nies constructed  of  wood,  which  would  burn 
out  at  the  first  blast  of  flame.  Household 
goods  and  flower-pots  blocked  sudden  egress 
in  case  of  sudden  fire.  Many  of  the  escapes 
were  vertical  ladders.  A  vertical  ladder  is  safe 
enough  for  an  active  powerful  man,  but  the 
great  majority  of  the  population  of  any  given 
tenement  house  is  never  composed  of  such 
men.  How  much  chance  do  women  and  chil- 
dren have  of  gaining  the  ground  in  safety 
and  in  good  order  by  such  means?  Talk  with 
the  firemen  and  they  will  tell  you  that  a  ver- 
tical ladder  fire-escape  generally  means  that 
they  must  carry  the  women  and  children  to 
the  ground  while  the  conquest  of  the  fire 
must  be  delayed.  Sometimes  the  battle  is  lost 
because  of  that  delay.  Fire-escapes  made 


328         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

wholly  of  metal,  with  stairs  bordered  by  hand- 
railing,  provide  the  only  safe  method  of 
escape  from  the  crowded  dwellings  of  the 
slums.  It  is  no  less  than  a  city's  duty  to  de- 
mand them.  Nor  should  fire-escapes  on  the 
larger  tenement  houses  be  limited  to  the 

O 

rear.  Kitchens,  commonly  placed  in  the  fear 
of  an  apartment,  are  favorite  starting-places 
for  fires,  whose  flame  may  easily  envelop  a 
rear  escape  as  well  as  the  stairs.  Under  such 
circumstances,  the  only  safety  comes  from 
the  possession  of  escapes  both  front  and 
rear. 

The  initiative  in  the  movement  for  reform 
may  come  from  single  or  collective  forces. 
Private  citizens  can  do  much  to  aid.  The  won- 
derful work  of  the  tuberculosis  exhibits  can 
be  duplicated  by  good  housing  exhibitions 
prepared  by  societies  interested  in  civic  re- 
form. Cooperative  societies  have  fully  as  great 
a  chance  to  build  model  houses  here  as  in 
England,  where  so  much  has  been  accom- 
plished. Capitalists,  who  desire  to  aid  the 
poor  by  methods  of  self-help,  may  find  work 
ready  for  their  hands.  Labor  unions,  which 
have  done  no  small  part  of  the  whole  work  so 
far  accomplished,  can  do  much  more.  The 


CITY  HOUSING  IN  AMERICA         329 

greatest  necessity  of  all  is  for  a  constant  per- 
sistent campaign  of  education. 

After  all  the  general  work  has  been  done, 
however,  each  individual  city  must  find  the 
values  of  the  many  unknown  x's  of  the  housing 
problem  by  the  use  of  the  known  factors,  the 
a's  and  6's,  of  its  personal  equation.  The  initi- 
ators of  such  movement  have  a  large  field  to 
cover.  Only  when  all  the  facts  and  figures 
furnished  by  local  and  general  conditions 
have  been  secured,  only  when  all  the  data 
obtainable  with  respect  to  the  work  already 
performed  is  at  hand,  can  we  hope  to  find 
firm  foundation  for  our  arguments.  It  is  en- 
tirely probable  that  the  best  way  for  munici- 
palities or  associations  to  take  up  this  ques- 
tion is  by  means  of  a  temporary  committee 
or  commission,  whose  membership  should  be 
made  up  in  the  way  pointed  out  by  the  best 
foreign  examples.  Some  of  the  governments 
abroad  have  obtained  the  services  of  experts 
in  the  six  lines  of  work  most  closely  connected 
with  the  housing  problem.  Their  commissions 
include  a  doctor,  an  engineer,  an  architect, 
a  real-estate  expert,  a  builder,  and  a  social 
worker.  There  are  too  many  problems  of  dis- 
ease, too  many  problems  of  construction,  too 


330         THE  HEALTH   OF  THE  CITY 

many  problems  of  finance,  and  too  many  per- 
sonal problems,  for  any  of  those  experts  to 
be  safely  omitted. 

Such  a  board  would,  of  course,  proceed  im- 
mediately after  its  appointment  to  obtain  the 
necessary  facts  and  figures  for  its  labors.  A 
house-to-house  canvass  should  be  immediately 
begun,  not  only  for  the  purpose  of  determin- 
ing to  what  extent  evil  conditions  exist,  but 
also  to  find  out  what  deficiency  of  housing 
exists  in  the  city.  While  this  canvass  proceeds, 
a  general  investigation  of  the  land  in  the  slums 
and  around  the  city  should  be  undertaken,  to 
determine  what  localities  exist  where  inexpen- 
sive and  easy  means  of  transit  make  access  to 
work  comparatively  simple,  and  where  land 
can  be  bought  cheaply.  The  collection  of  data 
from  American  and  foreign  states,  cities,  and 
private  enterprises  is  important.  Its  arrange- 
ment and  cataloguing  in  such  shape  as  to  make 
access  easy  is  quite  as  necessary.  Each  of  the 
specialists  on  the  commission  should  report  in- 
dividually on  his  own  line  of  work,  and  bear 
his  part  in  the  general  statement  to  be  issued 
by  the  whole  commission.  Experts  should  add 
to  this  such  a  digest  of  existing  law  as  to  make 
it  evident,  at  the  close  of  the  house-to-house 


CITY  HOUSING  IN  AMERICA         331 

canvass,  just  what  the  law  is  and  just  how 
completely  it  has  been  enforced. 

The  assessors'  books  provide  a  starting- 
point  for  housing  investigations,  since  they  are 
the  register  of  house  property  of  every  kind 
situated  within  the  city  limits.  From  these 
books  may  be  learned  what  land  is  too  costly 
for  dwellings  and  what  land  is  cheap  enough 
to  be  used  for  this  purpose.  That  point  can 
scarcely  receive  too  great  emphasis.  If  houses 
are  to  be  available  for  the  poor,  rents  must  be 
so  regulated  as  to  meet  the  lowest  average  wage. 
To  know  the  practicable  rents  for  any  city,  the 
wage-statistics  of  that  individual  city,  not  the 
general  statistics  of  a  country,  must  be  obtained. 
In  no  civic  problem  does  the  personal  equation 
of  a  city  affect  the  result  more.  A  second  point 
follows  naturally  here.  The  regulations  imposed 
on  persons  desiring  to  build  must  not  be  too 
costly.  They  must  always  seek  to  give  the  max- 
imum health-protection  at  the  minimum  cost. 
The  desire  for  harmonious  artistic  development 
is  most  laudable.  If  it  can  be  secured  without 
hygienic  loss,  well  and  good ;  but  when  the  beau- 
tiful and  the  healthful  conflict,  it  is  the  aesthetic 
side  which  should  suffer.  There  is  no  finer  or- 
nament to  a  city  than  healthy  boys  and  girls. 


332         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

One  must  hesitate  a  long  time,  however,  be- 
fore advocating  the  policies  of  Germany  and 
Great  Britain  in  the  United  States.  Municipal 
ownership  of  dwellings,  which  may  be  to  some 
degree  successful  under  the  autocratic  rule  of 
the  first  nation  or  the  parliamentary  control 
of  the  second,  may  be  of  dubious  value  here. 
The  average  municipal  officer  would  be  too 
hesitant  in  applying  sufficiently  rigorous  meth- 
ods of  control  to  a  tenant  of  city  property  who 
had  helped  in  his  election.  The  possibility  of 
colonization  in  municipally-owned  dwellings 
would  be  too  great.  The  danger  that  a  man's 
home  would  be  used  as  a  club  to  control  his 
vote  would  not  be  small.  Most  of  all,  our  lack 
of  those  distinctive  classes  which  make  houses 
exclusively  for  the  poorer  classes  possible 
abroad,  makes  houses  for  any  class  impossible 
here.  However  contented  with  his  former  lot 
the  immigrant  may  have  been,  the  air  of  this 
country  soon  leads  him  to  hope  and  dream  of 
advancement  for  his  children,  if  not  for  him- 
self. 

Municipal  housing  considers  but  one  phase 
of  the  question  at  best.  There  are  many  other 
ways  in  which  municipalities  can  do  much  to 
encourage  the  building  of  good  and  inexpen- 


CITY  HOUSING  IN  AMERICA         333 

sive  dwellings  by  individual  citizens,  and  by 
cooperative  societies  or  associations. 

The  common  practice  of  remitting  taxes  to 
manufacturers,  who  are  willing  to  increase 
the  prosperity  of  a  town  by  bringing  new 
business  within  its  limits,  is  a  precedent  for 
similar  action  to  builders  willing  to  put  up 
model  houses  at  low  rents.  The  heavy  cost  of 
betterments,  of  sewer-opening,  and  of  street- 
making  might  be  waived  in  the  case  of  con- 
tractors willing  to  supply  housing  deficien- 
cies under  strict  regulations.  Such  remissions 
should  be  charged  to  the  builder,  and  waived 
only  during  his  performance  of  the  necessary 
conditions.  On  violation  of  the  regulations, 
or  on  the  raising  of  rents  above  the  stipulated 
sums,  such  charges  should  become  automati- 
cally due.  In  the  present  competition  of  town 
with  town,  boards  of  trade  are  sending  ad- 
vertising matter  all  over  the  country  in  their 
efforts  to  attract  citizens  and  manufacturers. 
Could  a  board  of  trade  offer  a  better  drawing 
card  than  a  good  town  plan  ?  Could  they  fur- 
nish many  greater  incentives  to  a  manufac- 
turer than  would  be  provided  by  well-planned 
houses  for  employees  ?  No  organization  could 
work  more  effectively  in  obtaining  the  back- 


334         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

ing  of  public-spirited  citizens  ready  to  further 
housing  schemes. 

Of  the  close  relation  between  rapid  transit 
and  housing,  Charles  H.  Cooley  wrote  some 
years  ago  in  one  of  the  papers  of  the  Ameri- 
can Economic  Association :  — 

"  We  must  recognize  in  the  system  of  urban 
transportation  a  definite  social  organ,  having 
for  its  function  the  distribution  of  population 
about  industrial  centres.  It  is  an  industrial 
necessity  that  men  shall  work  in  dense  aggre- 
gates. Humanity  requires  that  they  shall  not 
live  in  dense  aggregates.  The  conditions  of 
industrial  life  are  such  that  the  number  of 
aggregated  workers  necessarily  increases  re- 
latively to  the  number  of  scattered  workers. 
There  is,  then,  a  conflict  between  the  indus- 
trial tendency  to  aggregation,  and  the  needs 
of  humanity.  The  function  of  city  railways  is 
to  reconcile  these  conflicting  requirements  of 
the  social  organism." 

To  bridge  the  gap  between  the  workshops 
of  the  centres  and  the  homes  of  the  suburbs, 
cheap  and  rapid  transit  must  be  provided. 
That  transit,  if  it  is  to  be  of  use  to  those  who 
need  it  most,  must  especially  consider  the 
length  of  time  which  the  worker  will  spend 


CITY   HOUSING  IN  AMERICA         335 

in  passing  to  and  from  his  labor.  Suppose  we 
start  with  the  assumption  that  a  trip  of  half  an 
hour  each  way,  an  hour  a  day  given  over  to 
travel,  is  the  most  that  the  average  workman 
will  give  to  travel  to  and  from  his  work.  That 
hour  is  not  a  fixed  period  based  on  statistical 
information.  It  is  rather  a  general  statement 
made  to  serve  as  a  reasonable  standard  for 
the  development  of  a  theory.  The  half  hour 
of  the  single  trip  should  include  the  time 
taken  to  go  from  his  home  to  the  cars,  from 
the  cars  to  the  factory,  and  necessary  waits 
for  the  cars.  Surely  it  does  not  seem  excessive 
to  say  that  the  average  workman  will  be 
obliged  to  spend  ten  minutes  of  his  half  hour 
waiting  and  getting  to  and  from  his  means  of 
transportation.  That  leaves  twenty  minutes 
to  be  spent  on  board  the  cars.  On  an  electric 
surface  car,  at  the  hour  at  which  he  travels, 
that  will  scarcely  take  him,  at  best,  more  than 
four  miles  from  his  labors.  With  the  block- 
ades of  the  streets  it  is  likely  to  carry  him  a 
much  shorter  distance  in  the  given  time.  The 
great  city  has  tried  the  surface  car  (still  avail- 
able for  the  small  city)  and  found  that  it  will 
not  give  the  rapid  transit  that  its  citizens 
must  have.  Under  the  best  conditions  such 


336         THE  HEALTH   OF  THE  CITY 

railways  will  not  take  the  workman  outside 
the  crowded  quarters  in  the  time  that  he  can 
spare. 

An  elevated  system  will  do  far  more.  A 
two-track  system,  however,  at  the  rush  hours, 
has  its  cars  crowded  to  the  doors  and  is 
forced  to  comparatively  frequent  stops.  It 
will  not  open  an  area  of  sufficient  size  to  pro- 
vide space  for  the  people  of  the  crowded  cen- 
tres. Four-track  elevated  systems  in  the  narrow 
streets  of  many  of  our  larger  cities  are  an  im- 
possibility. The  only  spaces  left  for  railway 
locations  in  the  centres  are  underground  or 
above  the  high  roofs  of  the  sky  scrapers.  Air- 
ships are  hardly  practicable  for  workingmen's 
transit  as  yet,  and  the  four-track  subway  with 
two  tracks  for  accommodation  trains  and  two 
for  express  trains  seems  to  be  the  best  means 
of  traveling  back  and  forth.  Only  by  swift 
expresses  can  we  open  an  area  sufficient  for 
modern  city  needs. 

We  are  sometimes  likely  to  forget  how  close 
is  the  relation  between  the  rapidity  of  transit 
and  the  area  available  for  buildings.  It  is  even 
more  difficult  to  realize  how  swiftly  that  area 
grows  as  the  speed  of  the  trains  increases. 
Estimating  the  average  rate  of  speed  of  the 


CITY  HOUSING  IN  AMERICA         337 

different  types  of  city  railways,  for  purposes 
of  comparison,  as  ten  miles  an  hour  for  sur- 
face, twenty  for  a  two-track  elevated  system, 
and  thirty  for  a  four-track  subway,  will  give 
us  some  light  on  the  relation  between  the  two 
factors.  Consider  the  unit  which  we  proposed, 
the  possibility  of  the  workman  spending  twenty 
minutes  on  the  train,  and  you  will  see  that  the 
surface  railway  will  carry  him  three  and  a  third 
miles  in  that  time,  the  two-track  system  six 
and  two  thirds  miles,  and  the  elevated  ten 
miles.  If  we  could  obtain  radial  systems  run- 
ning into  circular  zones  about  the  city,  we 
should  find  that  the  area  in  square  miles  would 
develop  amazingly  as  we  increased  the  rate  of 
speed.  The  surface  railways  would  serve  an 
area  of  about  thirty-five  square  miles.  The 
two-track  an  area  of  about  one  hundred  and 
forty  square  miles.  The  four-track,  with  its 
express  trains,  an  area  of  about  three  hundred 
and  fourteen  square  miles.  And  this  progres- 
sion in  size  would  be  due  to  the  geometrical 
fact  that  the  areas  of  two  circles  are  to  each 
other  as  the  squares  of  their  radii. 

The  steam  railways  can  do  much  in  distrib- 
uting the  population,  but  their  general  use 
is  limited  in  three  ways :  first,  their  compara-- 


338         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

tively  small  number,  second,  their  inadequate 
terminals,  which  commonly  require  a  long  walk 
after  the  workman  reaches  the  city,  and,  third, 
their  fares  graded  on  distance.  The  number 
of  the  steam  roads  around  the  towns  does  not 
seem  likely  to  be  greatly  increased.  The  steam 
railroad,  in  America,  is  essentially  a  long  dis- 
tance line.  Its  suburban  traffic  moves  along 
the  long  path  of  the  road's  journey  to  its  final 
destination.  The  short  branch  lines  which 
serve  suburban  populations  are  largely  projects 
of  a  former  day.  It  is  to  the  electric  road  that 
we  must  look  for  the  development  of  our  sub- 
urbs. Steam  roads  are  likely  to  have  poorly 
placed  terminals  for  the  development  of  work- 
ingmen's  traffic,  and  the  difficulty  of  passing 
from  one  terminal  to  the  different  parts  of 
the  working  quarters  or  to  the  terminals  of 
other  roads  is  often  great.  In  this  respect  we 
might  well  take  advantage  of  the  example  of 
Berlin,  whose  four-track  belt  line,  encircling 
the  city,  joins  terminals  and  leaves  passen- 
gers near  their  destination.  Of  the  problem  of 
the  graded  fare,  the  third  limitation,  we  shall 
speak  in  another  paragraph. 

Cost  of  transit  is  no  less  important  than 
rapidity.   Rapidity  of  transportation  will  do 


CITY   HOUSING  IN  AMERICA         339 

little  for  the  city,  if  its  expense  prevents  its 
general  use  by  those  who  need  it  most.  The 
steady  expenditure  required  by  the  movement 
to  and  from  work,  even  at  a  five-cent  fare,  is 
a  serious  steady  drain  on  the  workman's  purse. 
In  these  days  of  the  high  cost  of  living, 
the  weekly  sixty  cents  means  much  to  a  man 
with  a  limited  wage.  Speaking  of  this  topic, 
A.  F.  Weber,  at  the  close  of  his  work  on  the 
"  Growth  of  Cities,"  gives,  "  Four  goals  which 
are  of  fundamental  importance.  (1)  a  shorter 
working  day,  which  will  permit  the  working- 
man  to  live  at  a  distance  from  the  factory; 
(2)  associations  for  promoting  the  ownership 
of  suburban  homes  by  workingmen ;  (3)  cheap 
transit;  (4)  rapid  transit."  Of  the  third  of  those 
goals,  Cooley  has  said,  "  The  lower  the  fare, 
the  wider  the  area  open  to  the  man  with  the 
light  purse." 

It  is  worth  noting  that  the  London  County 
Council,  in  its  Millbank  buildings,  provides 
transportation  with  a  seat  for  every  workman 
at  a  rate  of  two  cents  per  trip.  Contrast  that 
with  the  average  condition  here.  The  waste 
of  opportunity  in  our  granting  of  franchises 
has  been  great  in  many  directions.  In  none 
is  it  more  apparent  than  in  the  neglect  of 


340         THE  HEALTH   OF  THE   CITY 

American  cities  to  impose  such  conditions 
upon  petitioning  corporations  as  shall  provide 
opportunities  for  workmen's  dwellings  in  the 
suburbs.  Railroads  and  trolley-lines  should  be 
required  by  charter  restrictions  to  run  work- 
ingmen's  trains  and  cars  at  reduced  prices  at 
convenient  times. 

It  may  be  that  our  freedom  from  class  con- 
ditions makes  it  impracticable  to  run  trains 
for  any  given  class.  If  so,  is  it  too  much  to 
ask  that  at  workingmen's  hours,  trains  at  re- 
duced prices  shall  run,  which  are  open  to  all 
classes  ?  The  majority  who  use  them  will  be 
the  ones  who  need  them  most.  There  will  be 
slight  probability  of  empty  seats,  and  the  as- 
surance of  full  trains  should  make  it  possible 
to  base  fares  on  actual  running  expenses.  If 
reduced  prices  are  to  be  granted,  however, 
they  must  be  based,  so  far  as  possible,  on  a 
uniform  fare.  Urban  railroad  fares,  graded 
on  the  distance  traveled,  have  not  found  great 
favor  in  this  country.  They  offer  a  serious 
obstacle  to  sending  of  the  workman  far  from 
his  work  into  healthful  surroundings,  for  they 
set  up  a  series  of  artificial  barriers  at  the  limits 
of  each  payment.  A  limit,  beyond  which  an 
extra  fare  is  required,  is  difficult  for  the  slen- 


CITY  HOUSING  IN  AMERICA         341 

der  purse  to  surmount.  It  offers  too  great  an 
inducement  for  the  traveler  to  stop  at  a  point 
•which  can  be  reached  by  one  of  the  lower 
fares  from  which  he  proceeds  no  farther. 

Projected  lines  should  insure  that  possibili- 
ties of  housing  be  not  neglected.  This  second 
requirement  can  be  fairly  imposed  only  by 
such  an  expert  commission  as  that  mentioned, 
which  can  examine  proposed  routes  with  rela- 
tion to  their  housing  possibilities. 

Surveys  of  general  conditions,  and  recom- 
mendations of  definite  laws,  may  do  much; 
but  to  make  such  work  lasting,  some  perma- 
nent body  must  be  provided  which  shall  deal 
with  housing  as  a  permanent  city  department. 
The  construction  of  such  a  department,  and 
the  regulations  under  which  it  should  act, 

O  ' 

should  depend  upon  the  information  obtained 
by  the  preliminary  body.  A  single  depart- 
ment having  in  charge  this  one  branch  of  civic 
life  should  be  instituted  in  every  city  where  a 
bureau  of  this  type  does  not  exist.  Such  gov- 
ernment as  the  slum  has  so  far  received  has 
shown  the  disadvantages  of  a  multiplicity  of 
controllers,  all  too  engrossed  in  their  immedi- 

'  O 

ate  affairs  to  pay  much  attention  to  this  side- 
issue.  The  police,  the  fire  department,  and 


342         THE   HEALTH   OF  THE  CITY 

the  department  of  health  have  each  had  a 
share  of  the  control.  Between  them  all,  little 
has  been  done.  The  tenement-house  bureau  of 
New  York,  ineffective  as  it  has  been  under 
Tammany,  is  yet  far  better  than  the  older 
methods  which  divided  responsibility.  But  a 
housing  department,  if  it  is  to  have  any  value, 
must  be  backed  by  sufficient  appropriations. 
The  spirit  of  the  people  must  be  behind  the 
movement.  New  York's  experience,  as  evi- 
denced by  the  placard  cited  near  the  begin- 
ning of  this  chapter,  has  shown  of  what  limited 
value  legislation  can  be  when  these  things  are 
wanting.  The  city  must  guard  against  nulli- 
fying such  reform  by  legal  intricacies  or  ver- 
bosities. The  first  necessity  of  the  laws  or 
ordinances  under  which  such  a  department  is 
to  work  is  simplicity.  The  wording  should  be 
intelligible,  not  only  to  architect  and  builder, 
but  also  to  any  intelligent  layman.  Owner 
and  tenant  alike  should  be  able  to  understand 
each  and  every  paragraph.  Fortunately,  more- 
over, if.  we  grant  the  postulate  of  a  rightly 
constituted  department,  with  sufficient  appro- 
priations, we  shall  find  ample  possibility  of 
enforcement  in  the  city's  hands.  If  the  hous- 
ing authorities  refuse  to  allow  tenants  to  oc- 


CITY  HOUSING  IN  AMERICA         343 

cupy  a  new  house  until  all  the  necessary 
regulations  have  been  met,  builders  become 
extremely  anxious  to  meet  requirements.  The 
closing  of  a  few  houses  which  are  unfit  for 
human  habitation  and  the  refusal  of  permits 
to  occupy  them  until  they  have  been  properly 
renovated  bring  about  rapid  repairs.  Oppo- 
sition to  public  control  of  private  property  is 
inevitable,  yet  the  swiftness  with  which  so 
great  a  movement  for  the  city's  health  has 
prevailed  seems  sometimes  incredible.  Every 
attempt  which  has  been  made  to  secure  pro- 
tection for  tenants  has  been  opposed  by  two 
classes  of  hostile  building  interests,  —  the  hon- 
est builder  and  the  reckless  speculator.  Many 
of  the  first  class,  who  have  been  sufficiently 
public  spirited  to  accept  changes  which  are  for 
the  good  of  their  fellows,  have  been  brought 
to  see  that  properly  built  tenements  are  a 
better  investment  than  poorly  built  ones,  be- 
cause of  the  permanency  of  the  tenants  and 
the  minimizing  of  repairs.  The  speculator  who 
throws  up  a  jerry-built  house  for  the  sole 
purpose  of  unloading  it  on  some  confiding 
investor  at  the  first  possible  moment,  needs 
no  protection.  The  community  needs  protec- 
tion against  him  as  against  any  other  sharper. 


344         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

To  the  honest  landlord  who  objects  to  the 
apparently  arbitrary  control  of  his  property, 
there  is  but  one  reply:  he  must  endure  that 
control  for  the  good  of  the  community.  In 
like  case,  more  than  one  honest  milkman  has 
objected  to  a  board  of  health  which  required 
inspection  of  all  his  milk-supplies.  His  good 
milk  must  be  inspected  with  the  bad.  The 
individual  has  no  right  to  market  wares  that 
injure  the  health  of  the  community.  No  land- 
lord can  hold  property  without  assuming  lia- 
bility for  such  betterment  assessments  as  the 
city  may  think  it  wise  to  make :  his  possession 
of  property  implies  his  assumption  of  liability 
to  protective  governmental  measures.  Fortu- 
nately, the  final  tribunal  of  this  country,  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  has  al- 
ready determined  the  right  of  a  state  to  say 
to  its  citizens :  "  You  shall  build  in  accordance 
with  our  laws  and  in  no  other  way."  When 
the  Massachusetts  legislature  divided  Boston 
into  certain  divisions  and  limited  the  height 
of  the  buildings  in  those  divisions,  buildings 
in  the  residential  quarter  were  required  to  be 
less  in  height  than  those  in  the  business  dis- 
trict. A  citizen  desiring  to  erect  a  building 
of  a  greater  height  than  that  allowed  for  cer- 


CITY  HOUSING  IN  AMERICA         345 

tain  sections  of  the  city  decided  to  test  his 
rights,  and  appealed  his  cause  from  court  to 
court.  He  lost  his  case.  This  affirmation  of  the 
right  of  a  city  to  protect  its  citizens  by  its  con- 
trol of  the  building  of  their  habitations  makes 
this  a  decision  of  the  greatest  importance. 

The  great  books  whereon  are  blazened  the 
achievements  of  our  American  cities  are  still 
in  the  making.  Turning  the  pages  slowly, 
one  finds  many  an  illumined  scroll,  many  a 
fair  full  line.  Side  by  side  with  those  noble 
records  stand  blotted  paragraphs  where  shame 
has  ruthlessly  despoiled  the  workman's  careful 
task.  Here  and  there  a  sentence  well  begun  has 
trailed  off  into  vague  traceries  which  carry  no 
message  to  the  eager  searcher.  Turn  to  the 
page  on  which  the  American  city's  contribu- 
tion to  this  great  world-problem  of  housing 
should  be  entered  and  you  will  find  it  scarce 
begun.  The  filling  of  that  page  will  be  forced 
upon  us,  on  you  and  me,  in  the  coming  years. 

NOTE.  At  the  close  of  these  two  chapters  on  housing  I 
feel  that  I  should  express  my  appreciation  of  the  information 
along  these  lines  given  me  by  Mr.  Edward  Hartman,  Secre- 
tary of  the  Massachusetts  Civic  League;  by  Mr.  Benjamin 
Marsh,  Secretary  of  the  Committee  on  Congestion  of  Popula- 
tion in  New  York ;  and  by  Mr.  Ernst  Parsons,  of  Somes  and 
Parsons,  Architects,  Boston,  Mass. 


XI 

A  SELECTED  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

THE  bibliography  which  follows  is  designed 
to  be,  as  far  as  possible,  a  bibliography  of 
accessible  books  rather  than  of  articles  which 
might  be  difficult  for  the  reader  to  obtain. 
It  is  wholly  an  English  list.  It  represents,  as 
has  been  stated  in  the  Preface,  the  genesis  of 
much  of  the  material  used  in  this  book.  In 
the  consideration  of  three  subjects,  noise,  ice, 
and  sewer-gas,  the  general  rule,  given  above, 
has  been  broken  because  of  the  limited  num- 
ber of  books  on  these  subjects  and  because 
of  the  fact  that  these  are  stories  of  individual 
effort.  The  journals  which  have  been  chiefly 
used  in  the  preparation  of  the  matter  are  in- 
cluded in  the  first  list  given.  The  Depart- 
ments of  the  United  States  at  Washington 
have  furnished  a  great  number  of  pamphlets 
on  many  different  subjects.  Most  of  these  can 
be  obtained  by  any  citizen  upon  application 
to  the  Superintendent  of  Documents,  Wash- 
ington, D.  C.  Their  titles  are  not  generally 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  347 

included  here,  as  they  can  be  obtained,  upon 
request,  from  the  proper  officials.  The  regis- 
try departments  and  departments  of  health  of 
various  cities  have  supplied  much  information. 
Other  material  has  been  drawn  from  the 
twelfth  census,  from  the  "Bevolkingsstatis- 
tiek"  of  Amsterdam,  published  by  the  Bureau 
Municipal  de  Statistique  of  Amsterdam,  and 
from  Newsholme's  "Vital  Statistics,"  pub- 
lished by  Swan,  Sonnenschein  and  Co.  of 
London.  The  Society  for  the  Suppression  of 
Unnecessary  Noise  furnished  a  considerable 
part  of  the  material  on  noise.  The  bibliography 
on  ice,  included  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  Amer- 
ican Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  vol.  xii, 
No.  5,  is  of  especial  value  to  the  student  of 
this  subject.  Richards  and  Woodman  have  an 
excellent  brief  bibliography  relating  to  the 
subjects  of  their  work  in  their  volume  on  Air, 
Water,  and  Food,  mentioned  later  in  this 
chapter. 

JOURNALS 

American  Journal  of  Public  Hygiene. 
American  Journal  of  Medical  Sciences. 
Journal  of  the  American  Medical  Association. 
Engineering  News. 
American  Academy  of  Medicine. 


348        THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

Technology  Quarterly. 

Science. 

Municipal  Affairs. 

BACTERIOLOGY 

Conn,  The  Story  of  Germ  Life.    D.  Appleton  and 

Co.  1897. 
Conn,  Bacteria,  Yeasts  and  Molds  in  the  Home. 

Ginn  and  Co.  1903. 
Fischer,    Structure    and    Function    of    Bacteria. 

Trans.  Coppen  Jones.  Clarendon  Press,  Oxford. 

1900. 
Frankland,  Mrs.  Percy,  Bacteria  in  Daily  Life. 

Longmans,  Green  and  Co.  1903. 
Lipman,  Bacteria  in  Relation  to  Country  Life. 

Macmillan  Co.   1908. 

Muir  and  Ritchie,  Manual  of  Bacteriology.  Mac- 
millan Co.  1907. 
Prescott  and  Winslow,  Water  Bacteriology.  Wiley 

and  Sons.  1908. 
Report  of  the  Merchants  Assoc.  of  N.  Y.,  Typhoid 

Fever.  March,  1908. 
W  hippie,    Typhoid    Fever.     Wiley    and    Sons. 

1908. 
Winslow,  Systematic  Relationship  of  the  Cocca- 

ceae.  Wiley  and  Sons.  1908. 

HYGIENE   AND    SANITATION 

Abbott,     Hygiene    of     Transmissible    Diseases. 
W.  B.  Saunders  Co.  1899. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  349 

Baker,    Municipal   Engineering    and   Sanitation. 

MacmillanCo.  1906. 
Bergey,  The  Principles  of  Hygiene.   W.  B.  Saun- 

ders  Co.  1909. 
Chapin,  Municipal  Sanitation  in  the  United  States. 

Snow.  Providence,  1906. 

Fisher,  Bulletin  of  the  Committee  of  One  Hun- 
dred on  the  Conservation  of  Vital  Resources. 

Title  Guarantee  and  Trust  Co.  New  York,  1909. 
Fitz,  Physiology  and  Hygiene.  Henry  Holt  and 

Co.  1908. 
Gerhard,  Sanitation  of  Public  Buildings.  Wiley 

and  Sons.  1907. 
Harrington,  Practical  Hygiene.  Lea  Bros,  and  Co. 

1902. 
Hough  and  Sedgwick,  The   Human  Mechanism. 

Ginn  and  Co.  1906. 
Pyle,   Personal   Hygiene.    W.    B.  Saunders  Co. 

1900. 
Sedgwick,  Principles  of  Sanitary  Science.  Mac- 

millan  Co.  1902. 

Shaw,  School  Hygiene.  Macmillan  Co.  1901. 
Sternberg,   Infection    and    Immunity.     Putnam. 

1903. 

Vernon-Harcourt,  Sanitary    Engineering.    Long- 
mans, Green  and  Co.  1907. 

AIR 

Booth  and  Kershaw,  Smoke  Prevention  and  Fuel 
Economy.  Henley.  1905. 


350         THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

Cohen,  The  Air  of  Towns.  Government  Printing 
Office.  1896. 

De  Varigny,  Air  and  Life.  Government  Printing 
Office.  1896. 

Nicholson,  Practical  Smoke  Prevention.  Sanitary 
Publishing  Co.  London,  1902. 

Prudden,  Dust  and  its  Dangers.  G.  P.  Putnam 
and  Sous.  1907. 

Randall  and  Weeks,  The  Smokeless  Combustion 
of  Coal  in  Boiler  Plants.  U.  S.  G.  S.  No.  23. 
1909. 

Richards  and  Woodman,  Air,  Water,  and  Food. 
Wiley  and  Sons.  1906. 

Russell,  The  Atmosphere  in  Relation  to  Human 
Life  and  Health.  Smithsonian  Institute.  Wash- 
ington, 1896. 

Soper,  Air  and  Ventilation  of  Subways.  Wiley 
and  Sons.  1908. 

Soper,  Modern  Methods  of  Street-Cleaning.  En- 
gineering News  Pub.  Co.  1909. 

Tyndall,  Essays  on  the  Floating  Matter  in  the  Air 
in  Relation  to  Putrefaction  and  Infection.  Long- 
mans, Green  and  Co.  1883. 

MILK 

Belcher,  Clean  Milk.  Hardy  Publishing  Co. 
1903. 

Bulletin  No.  56  of  the  Hygiene  Laboratory,  De- 
partment of  Treasury.  Milk  and  its  Relation  to 
the  Public  Health.  1909. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  351 

Chapin,  Theory  and  Practice  of  Infant  Feeding. 
Wm.  Wood  and  Co.  1909. 

Conn,  Practical  Dairy  Bacteriology.  Orange  Judd 
Co.  1907. 

Conn,  Bacteria  in  Milk  and  its  Products.  P.  Blak- 
istou's  Son  and  Co.  1903. 

Jensen,  Essentials  of  Milk  Hygiene.  Trans.  Pear- 
son. J.  B.  Lippincott.  1909. 

Kober,  Milk  in  Relation  to  the  Public  Health. 
Senate  Document.  1902. 

Rotch,  Pediatrics,  J.  B.  Lippincott.  1909. 

Spargo,  The  Common  Sense  of  the  Milk  Ques- 
tion. Macmillan  Co.  1908. 

Wardwell,  Practical  Milk  Inspection  by  a  District 
Medical  Society.  Annals  of  Gynecology  and 
Pediatry,  vol.  xxi.  1908. 

Wardwell,  Some  Things  that  a  Physician  ought 
to  know  about  Milk.  Annals  of  Gynecology  and 
Pediatry,  vol.  xxi.  1908. 

FOOD 

Blyth,  Foods,  their  Composition  and  Analysis. 
Charles  Griffin  and  Co.  1903. 

Chittenden,  Physiological  Economy  in  Nutrition. 
Stokes.  1904. 

Chittenden,  The  Nutrition  of  Man.  Stokes.  1907. 

Fletcher,  The  A.  B.-Z.  of  Our  Own  Nutrition. 
Stokes.  1906. 

Friedenwald  and  Ruhrah,  Diet  in  Health  and  Dis- 
ease. Saunders  Co.  1909. 


352         THE  HEALTH   OF  THE  CITY 

Hutchison,  Food  and  the  Principles  of  Dietetics. 
Wm.  Wood  and  Co.  1903. 

Langworthy,  The  Nutrition  Investigations  of  the 
Office  of  Experiment  Stations  and  their  Results. 
Annual  Report  of  the  Office  of  Experiment  Sta- 
tions. 1906. 

Leach,  Food  Inspection  and  Analysis.  Wiley  and 
Sons.  1907. 

Richards,  The  Cost  of  Food :  A  Study  in  Dietaries. 
Wiley  and  Sons.  1901. 

Richards,  Food  Materials  and  their  Adulteration. 
Whitcomb  and  Barrows.  1886. 

Richards,  Dietary  Computer.  Wiley  and  Sons. 
1902. 

Richards,  Dietary  Studies.  Wiley  and  Sons.  1903. 

Sunderland  (Editor),  System  of  Diet  and  Dieta- 
ries. Oxford  Medical  Publications.  1908. 

Thompson,  Practical  Dietetics  with  Special  Refer- 
ence to  Diet  in  Disease.  D.  Appleton  and  Co. 
1899. 

Townshend,  The  Relation  of  Food  to  Health.  Witt 
Publishing  Co.  St.  Louis,  1897. 

Wiley,  Foods  and  their  Adulteration.  P.  Blakis- 
ton's  Son  and  Co.  1907. 

WATER 

Frankland,  G.  and  P.,  Micro-Organisms  in  Water. 

Longmans,  Green  and  Co.  1894. 
Gerhard,  Water  Supply,  Sewerage  and  Plumbing  of 

Modern  City  Buildings.  Wiley  and  Sons.  1910. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  353 

Gerhard,  Sanitation,  Water  Supply  and  Sewage 

Disposal  of  Country  Houses.    J.  B.  Lippincott. 

1909. 
Hazen,  Clean  Water  and  How  to  Get  It.  Wiley 

and  Sons.  1907. 
Hazen,  Filtration  of  Public  Water  Supplies.  Wiley 

and  Sons.  1903. 

Mason,  Water  Supply.   Wiley  and  Sons.  1896. 
Whipple,  Value  of  Pure  Water.  Wiley  and  Sons. 

1907. 

SEWAGE 

Baker,  Sewerage  and  Sewage  Purification.  Van 
Nostrand.  1896. 

Cosgrove,  Sewage  Purification  and  Disposal.  Stand- 
ard Sanitary  Manufacturing  Co.,  Pittsburg. 
1909. 

Dunbar,  Principles  of  Sewage  Treatment.  Trans. 
Calvert.  Charles  Griffin  and  Co.  London, 
1908. 

Fowler,  Some  Principles  underlying  the  Design  of 
Small  Sewage  Installations.  Wiley  and  Sons. 
1907. 

Gerhard,  The  Disposal  of  Household  Wastes.  Van 
Nostrand  Co.  1904. 

Kinnicutt,  Winslow  and  Pratt,  Sewage  Disposal. 
Wiley  and  Sons.  (In  press.) 

Raikes,  The  Design,  Construction  and  Mainte- 
nance of  Sewage  Disposal  Works.  Constable, 
1908. 

Winslow  and  Phelps,  Investigations  on  the  Purifi- 


354        THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 

cation  of  Boston  Sewage.    Geological  Survey, 
1906. 

ICE 

Character  and  Quality  of  the  Ice  Supply  of  Lon- 
don. Lancet,  vol.  Ixxi,  1893,  ii. 

Hill,  An  Investigation  of  the  Boston  Ice  Supply. 
Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal,  vol.  cxlv, 
pages  557-561. 

Leidy,  Organisms  in  Ice.  Proc.  Acad.  Nat.  Sci. 
Philadelphia,  1884. 

Nichols,  Report  on  an  Outbreak  of  Intestinal  Dis- 
order attributable  to  the  Contamination  of  Drink- 
ing Water  by  Means  of  Impure  Ice.  Seventh 
Annual  Report,  State  Board  of  Health,  Massa- 
chusetts. 1876. 

Park,  Duration  of  Life  of  Typhoid  Bacilli,  derived 
from  Twenty  Different  Sources,  in  Ice.  Journal 
of  the  Boston  Society  of  Medical  Sciences,  vol.  v. 

Pengra,  Purification  of  Water  by  Freezing. 
Twelfth  Annual  Report  State  Board  of  Health, 
Michigan.  1884. 

Prudden,  On  Bacteria  in  Ice  and  their  Relations 
to  Disease,  with  Special  Reference  to  the  Ice 
Supply  of  New  York  City.  The  Medical  Record, 
March  26  and  April  2,  1887. 

Ravenel,  The  Resistance  of  Bacteria  to  Cold.  Med- 
ical News,  Philadelphia,  June  10,  1899. 

Report  upon  the  Pollution  of  Ice  Supplies. 
Twenty-first  Annual  Report,  State  Board  of 
Health,  Massachusetts.  1889. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  355 

Sedgwick  and  Winslow,  Experiments  upon  the 
Effect  of  Freezing  and  other  Low  Temperatures 
upon  the  Viability  of  the  Bacillus  of  Typhoid 
Fever,  with  Considerations  Regarding  Ice  as  a 
Vehicle  of  Infectious  Disease.  Memoirs  of  the 
American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  vol. 
xii,No.  5.  1902. 

PLUMBING 

Andrewes,  Reports  on  the  Micro-Organisms  Pre- 
sent in  Sewer  Air  and  in  the  Air  of  Drains. 
Local  Government  Board.  Thirty-sixth  and 
Thirty-seventh  Annual  Reports,  1906-07, 1907- 
08. 

Carnelley  and  Haldane,  Air  of  Sewers.  Royal  So- 
ciety of  London,  vol.  xlii.  1887. 

Cosgrove,  Principles  and  Practice  of  Plumbing. 
Standard  Sanitary  Manufacturing  Co.  Pitts- 
burg,  1906. 

D'Alessi,  Translation  of  account  of  his  Ex- 
periment. Journal  of  Sanitary  Institute,  vol. 
xvi. 

Frankland,  Transport  of  Solid  and  Liquid  Parti- 
cles in  Sewer  Gas.  Royal  Society  of  London, 
vol.  xxv.  1876-77. 

Horrocks,  Specific  Bacteria  derived  from  Sewage 
which  may  be  Present  in  the  Air  of  Ventilator 
Pipes,  Drains,  Inspection  Chambers  and  Sewers. 
Royal  Society,  February  7,  1907,  vol.  Ixxix, 
No.  B,  531. 


356         THE   HEALTH   OF  THE  CITY 

London  County  Council,  Report  of  Sewer  Air 
Investigation,  1893,  No.  126,  and  1898,  No.  189. 

Pumpelly,  Relation  of  Soils  to  Health.  National 
Board  of  Health  Report,  1881. 

Reports  of  the  Sanitary  Committee,  National  Asso- 
ciation of  Master  Plumbers  of  United  States, 
1907-08-09. 

Roechling,  Sewer  Gas  and  its  Influence  on  Health. 
Biggs  and  Co.  London,  1898. 

NOISE 

Beard,  Physiological  Effects  of  Noise.  Century 
Magazine,  1908. 

First,  Second,  and  Third  Annual  Reports  of  the 
Society  for  the  Suppression  of  Unnecessary 
Noise.  New  York  City,  1908-09-10. 

Morse,  The  Steam  Whistle  a  Menace  to  Public 
Health.  1905.  Read  before  the  Massachusetts 
Association  Boards  of  Health.  Published  pri- 
vately. 

Rice,  Hoodlumism  in  Holiday  Observance.  Fo- 
rum, 1909. 

Rice,  An  Effort  to  Suppress  Noise.   Forum,  1906. 

Rice,  Our  Most  Abused  Sense,  the  Sense  of  Hear- 
ing. Forum,  1907. 

Rice,  The  Children's  Hospital  Branch  of  the  So- 
ciety for  the  Suppression  of  Unnecessary  Noise. 
Forum,  1908. 

Rice,  Our  Barbarous  Fourth.  Century  Magazine, 
1908. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  357 

HOUSING 

Alden  and  Hayward,  Housing.  Headley  Bros. 
London,  1907. 

DeForest  and  Veiller,  The  Tenement  House  Prob- 
lem, vols.  i  and  ii.  Macmillan  Co.  1903. 

Garden  Suburbs,  Villages,  and  Homes.  Garden 
City  Press,  1906. 

Harris,  The  Garden  City  Movement.  Garden  City 
Press,  1905. 

Horsfall,  Improvement  of  Dwellings.  University 
Press,  Manchester,  England.  1905. 

Hunter,  Tenement  Conditions  in  Chicago.  City 
Homes  Association.  Chicago,  1901. 

Marr,  Housing  Conditions  in  Manchester  and  Sal- 
ford.  Sherratt  and  Hughes  1904. 

Merchants  Association  of  New  York.  Passenger 
Transportation  Service  in  the  City  of  New  York. 
1903. 

Nettlefold,  Practical  Housing.  Garden  City  Press, 
1908. 

Nettlefold,  A  Housing  Policy.  Cornish  Bros.  Bir- 
mingham, 1905. 

Report  of  the  Housing  Committee  of  Birmingham. 
Published  by  the  City.  1906. 

Report  of  the  Royal  Commission,  Housing  of 
Working  Classes.  British  Blue  Book,  1885. 

Reynolds,  Housing  of  the  Poor  in  American  Cities. 
Published  in  the  publications  of  the  American 
Economic  Association,  vol.  viii,  Nos.  2,  3. 

Special  Report  on  the  Housing  of  Working  Classes 
Amendment  Act.  British  Blue  Book,  1906. 


358  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Sykes,  Public  Health  and  Housing.    P.  S.  King 

and  Son.  1901. 
Thompson,  Housing  Handbook.    H.  K.  Aldrich. 

London,  1903. 
Weber,  The  Growth  of  Cities  in  the  Nineteenth 

Century.  Macmillan  Co.  1899. 

TUBERCULOSIS 

List  obtained  from  the  National  Association  for 
the  Study  and  Prevention  of  Tuberculosis :  — 

Flick,  Tuberculosis :  A  Curable  and  Preventable 
Disease.  J.  C.  Winston  Co.  1910. 

Flick,  The  Crusade  against  Tuberculosis:  Con- 
sumption a  Curable  and  Preventable  Disease: 
What  a  Layman  should  know  about  it.  McKay. 
1903. 

Knopf,  Tuberculosis  as  a  Disease  of  the  Masses 
and  how  to  Combat  it.  The  Survey.  New  York, 
1908. 

Knopf,  Tuberculosis :  A  Preventable  and  Curable 
Disease:  Modern  Methods  for  the  Solution  of 
the  Tuberculosis  Problem.  Moifat,  Yard  and 
Co.  1909. 

Otis,  The  Great  White  Plague  —  Tuberculosis. 
T.  Y.  Crowell  and  Co.  1909. 


INDEX 


INDEX  OF  NAMES 


(EXCLUDING  THE  BIBLIOGRAPHY) 


Abbott,  on  bacteria  in  sewage, 

205. 
Abderhalden,  work  on  proteids, 

109. 
Andrewes,  work  on  bacteria  in 

air,  203,  214. 

Baker,  on  plumbing,  208. 
Balrae,    member     of     Sanitary 

Comm.  of  Master  Plumbers, 

207. 

Beard,  on  effects  of  noise,  233. 
Bennett,  U.  S.   bill  regulating 

noise,  256. 
Bonner,  investigations  of  fires, 

325,  326. 
Budd,     on     odors     from     the 

Thames,  223. 
Burdon-Sanderson,  work  on  ice, 

177. 

Cadbury,  founder  of  Bournville, 
286. 

Caruelley,  study  of  bacteria  in 
air,  203. 

Charrin,  on  bacteria  in  ice, 
179. 

Chittenden,  experiments  on  nu- 
trition, 101  et  seq. 

Cohn,  research  on  ice,  177. 

Cooley,  on  rapid  transit  and 
housing,  334. 

Craig,  Chairman  of  Sanitary 
Committee  of  Master  Plumb- 
ers, 207. 

D'Alessi,  on  relation  of  sewer- 
gas  and  disease,  202. 

D'Arsonval,  on  bacteria  in  ice, 
179. 


Decker,  member  of  Sanitary 
Comm.  of  Master  Plumbers, 
207. 

Drown,  work  on  sewage-disposal 
and  water-supply,  148. 

Ficker,  work  on  bacteria  in  air, 

204. 

Fletcher,  School  of  Diet,  106. 
Fliigge,  work  on  bacteria  in  air, 

204. 

Frankel,  work  on  ice,  181. 
Frankland,  work  on  ice,  181 ;  on 

sewer-gas,  202. 
Freeman,  on  bacteria  in  milk,  41. 

Gautier,  on  diet,  101. 

Gerhard,  on  sanitation  of  mar- 
kets and  abattoirs,  80. 

Girdner,  work  for  suppression  of 
noise,  252. 

Gregory,  on  noise,  236. 

Haldane,  study  of  bacteria  in 

air,  203. 
Harrington,   on  plumbing  and 

sewage,  205,  208. 
Hazen,  on  bacteria  from  sewage, 

205. 
Heyroth,  on  bacteria  in  frozen 

water,  177. 
Highlands,  member  of  Sanitary 

Comm.  of  Master  Plumbers, 

207. 
Hill,    Miss    Octajia,    work    on 

housing,  296,  298. 
Hill,  on  sewage,  177. 
Horrocks,  investigations  of 

plumbing,  211  et  seq.,  220  et 

seq. 


362 


INDEX 


Howe,  P.  W.,  care  of  milk  in 
Boston  Floating  Hospital,  51. 
Hyslop,  on  noise,  236. 

Janowsky,  on  bacteria  in  frozen 
water,  "179. 

Jordan,  on  commercial  pasteur- 
ization, 49. 

Kempster,  work  against  noise, 
252. 

Kirchner,  on  sewer-gas,  204. 

Knopf,  on  mortality  from  tu- 
berculosis, 303. 

Laws,  study  of  bacteria  in  air, 
203. 

Lederle,  work  for  suppression 
of  noise,  252. 

Leidy,  on  bacteria  in  frozen  wa- 
ter, 179. 

Lever  Bros.  Co.,  houses  for 
workmen,  287, 289. 

Lever,  founder  of  Port  Sun- 
light, 286. 

Lindley,  on  sewer-gas,  204. 

Lister,  work  on  the  germ  the- 
ory of  disease,  9,  11. 

Me  William,  on  odors  from 
Thames,  225. 

Mills,  on  study  of  sewage-dis- 
posal and  water-supply,  148. 

Miqnel,  on  bacteria  in  street  and 
sewer,  148. 

Morgan,  member  of  Sanitary 
Comm.  of  Master  Plumbers, 
207. 

Morse,  work  against  noise,  237, 
252. 

Muirhead,  on  noise,  232. 

Nageli,  on  bacteria  in  air,  203. 
Napoleon  I,  work  on  markets,  75. 
Nettlefold,   work    on    housing, 

283. 
Nichols,  on  ice  epidemic,  176. 

Osborne,  work  on  proteids,  109. 


Park,  on  bacteria  in  ice,  177. 

Pasteur,  on  disease  -  germs  in 
air,  9. 

Pengra,  research  work  on  ice, 
181. 

Petri,  work  on  bacteria  in  air, 
204. 

Pictet,  on  bacteria  in  frozen  wa- 
ter, 179. 

Pohl,  on  bacteria  in  frozen 
water,  179. 

Prudden,  on  dust  and  tuberculo- 
sis, 18;  on  ice,  181,  182,  184. 

Pumpelly,  work  on  sewer-gas, 
202,  205. 

Ravenel,  on  bacteria  in  freezing 
water,  179. 

Rice,  Mrs.  I.  L.,  campaign  against 
noise,  254  et  seq. 

Richards,  on  sewer-gas,  198. 

Roechling,  on  "Sewer  Qas  and 
its  Influence  on  Health,"  223. 

Roosevelt,  appointment  of  board 
to  consider  conditions  of  abat- 
toirs, 84. 

Rumford,  Count,  philanthropic 
reforms,  119,  125. 

Russell,  on  overcrowding  in 
Glasgow,  267. 

Kut tan,  on  bacteria  from  sew- 
age, 205. 

Schwann,  on  disease-germs  in 
air,  9. 

Scofone,  research  on  bacteria, 
178. 

Sedgwick,  work  on  sewage-dis- 
posal and  water-supply,  148, 
223;  on  bacteria  in  ice,  177, 
182,  186. 

Sinclair,  effect  of  "  The  Jungle," 
84. 

Soper,  on  air  in  subways,  21. 

Twain,  Mark,  work  on  Children's 
Hospital  Branch  in  N.  Y.,  259. 

Tyndall,  on  germ  theory  of  dis- 
ease, 9,  10. 


INDEX 


363 


Uffelmann,  work  on  bacteria  in 
air,  204. 

Vanderwelder,  on  housing  in 
Belgium,  299. 

Veiller,  on  housing  of  immi- 
grants in  N.  Y.,  319 ;  investi- 
gations of  fires,  325,  326. 

Voit,  dietaries  of,  100. 

Von  Frisch,  work  on  bacteria  in 
ice,  179. 

Wardwell,  on  dairy  farms,  38. 


Weber,  A.  F.,  on  transit  and 
housing,  276. 

Whipple,  on  bacteria  from  sew- 
age, 205. 

Winslow,  work  on  ice,  177,  182, 
186;  on  intermittent  filter, 
151 ;  work  on  sewer-gas,  207, 
211,  218. 

Woodman,  on  sewer-gas,  198. 

Wren,  town  plan  of  London, 
276. 

Young,  on  bacteria  in  ice,  179. 


INDEX  OF  SUBJECTS 


(EXCLUDING  THB  BIBLIOGRAPHY) 


Abattoirs,  conditions  in,  84,  85 ; 
model,  85. 

Agriculture,  Department  of,  69. 

Air,  1,  159;  believed  to  be  a 
carrier  of  disease,  9;  chemi- 
cal composition  of,  2;  in 
drains  and  sewers,  208,  218 ; 
of  street,  208,  220,  305 ;  light 
and  water  as  the  free  goods 
of  economist,  271 ;  of  sewer, 
197, 198,  208 ;  of  subways,  21 ; 
organic  matter  in,  10 ;  shaft, 
312,  320,  326;  volume  re- 
quired per  hour  in  living  and 
sleeping  rooms,  268. 

America,  air  of  cities  in,  16; 
city  milk-supply  in,  32 ;  dilu- 
tion of  sewage  in,  143 ;  epi- 
demics from  infection  of 
water-sheds  in,  133;  experi- 
ments in  housing  in,  319. 

American  sanitarians'  beliefs  re- 
garding sewage,  205;  street 
cries,  249. 

Ammonia  in  cold-storage  plants, 
168. 

August,  infant  mortality  in,  31. 

Arverne-by-the-Sea,  ordinance 
concerning  noise,  250. 

Austria,  water-supply  of,  127. 

Azores,  food  for  children  in,  31. 

Bacillus,  coli,  201,  203,  217 ;  pro- 
digiosus,  184 ;  typhi  or  typho- 
sus,  184,  201. 

Bacteria,  acid  producing,  34; 
action  in  soil,  146 ;  armor  of 
body  against,  14 ;  exclusion  of, 
56;  floating  in  water,  163, 
165;  from  handling  of  ice, 


188,  193;  good  against  bad, 
53, 156;  growth  (general),  216 ; 
growth  of,  in  air,  12 ;  growth 
of,  in  cold  and  ice,  174,  177, 
181,  187 ;  growth  of,  in  milk, 
34,  36;  in  sewage,  201;  in 
snow,  165,  177 ;  in  subway, 
21 ;  life  in  ice,  192 ;  of  city 
streets,  13;  of  sewage-plant, 
63 ;  parasitic,  135  ;  putrefac- 
tive, 35.  See  also  Micro-organ- 
isms. 

Bacteriologist,  176. 

Bacteriologist's  work  with  milk. 
46. 

Bakery,  danger  to  public  in 
wrong  conditions  in,  90,  91 ; 
inspection  of  employees,  90; 
laws  of  Mass.,  89  ;  regulations, 
86. 

Bake-room,  conditions  of,  88. 

Baltimore,  alley  problem  of, 
318. 

Barns,  location  and  sanitation  of 
dairy,  39,  40. 

Belgian  railways  and  housing, 
298  et  seq. 

Berlin,  housing  of,  273,  308 ;  im- 
purities in  milk  of,  33 ;  mar- 
kets of,  76,  77 ;  Savings  and 
Building  Societies,  291 ;  sew- 
age farms  of,  146. 

Birmingham,  infant  mortality  in 
ward  of,  268 ;  housing  of,  283. 

Bixensast,  housing  in,  300. 

Boards  of  health,  pure  food  lawa 
and,  68 ;  control  of  food,  72. 

Body,  chemical  composition  of 
human,  93. 

Boiler-maker's  ear,  235. 


366 


INDEX 


Boston,  Board  of  Health,  stand- 
ard for  milk,  30, 51 ;  division 
of  city  by  building  regula- 
tions, 344 ;  housing  in  North 
End,  315 ;  investigation  in 
sewer  of,  218 ;  needs  of  tenant 
in,  321 ;  overcrowding  in,  315. 

Boundary  St.  buildings,  324. 

Bournville,  infant  mortality  of, 
268 ;  housing  in,  283. 

Brabant,  housing  in,  300. 

Breslau,  housing  in,  273. 

Britain,  housing  policies  in,  332. 

British  sanitarians  on  bacteria 
from  sewage,  205,  223. 

Brussels  and  rapid  transit,  300. 

Buffalo,  housing  in  Polish  quar- 
ter of,  317. 

Bunzlau,  ancient  water  and  sew- 
age system  of,  142. 

Buttermilk,  54. 

Cellulose,  63. 

Chicago,  congestion  of  popula- 
tion in,  315 ;  inspection  of 
markets,  77. 

Children's  Hospital  Branch  of 
S.  S.  U.  N.,  259. 

Chimneys  and  dwellings,  264; 
inspection  of,  6. 

Cholera,  Asiatic,  33, 129. 

Cholera  Infantum,  35,  37. 

Cilia,  4. 

City,  and  its  food-supply,  59, 64, 
67,  110,  190;  bakeries,  87  et 
seq. ;  control  of  ice,  167,  190 ; 
dust,  16, 23, 28;  gardens,  280; 
granting  of  franchises,  339; 
health  maps  of,  302 ;  housing, 
82,  263,  272,  282,  308;  hous- 
ing commission,  composition 
and  duties  of,  329,  341;  ice- 
supply  of,  159 ;  infant  mor- 
tality, 30,  57;  light,  25,  28, 
279, 304 ;  markets,  75  et  seq. ; 
milk,  cleansing  of,  44  et  seq. ; 
need  of  refrigeration,  160, 198 ; 
overcrowding  in,  110, 267,278; 
pavements  and  dust,  19,  71; 


and  noise,  242  et  seq. ;  play- 
grounds, 306 ;  preventable 
disease  in,  306 ;  reliance  on 
qualitative  and  quantitative 
tests,  180, 199 ;  reservoirs,  78  ; 
smoke  in,  3  et  seq.,  16,  28; 
traffic,  242  et  seq.,  306; 
transit,  276, 298, 306, 334, 338 ; 
value  of  land  in,  277  et  seq., 
301 ;  wages  and  housing,  299. 

Cleaning  by  vacuum  processes, 
20. 

Cleanliness  and  light,  25,  28; 
bacteriological,  11 ;  necessity 
of,  323;  of  artificial  ice,  170; 
of  natural  ice,  167. 

Cleveland  city  ordinance  con- 
cerning whistles,  etc.,  241. 

Coal,  hard  and  soft,  4. 

Cold,  effects  on  bacteria,  187. 

Cold  storage,  systems  of,  160, 
170,  172. 

Cologne,  Zone  System  of,  27, 279. 

Columbia,  District  of,  pure  food 
laws  in,  69;  laws  on  plumb- 
ing, 227. 

Columbus,  Ohio,  Experiment  Sta- 
tion work  on  water-supply  and 
sewage,  156. 

Committee  of  One  Hundred  and 
Housing,  313. 

Community  kitchens,  118, 124. 

Construction,  problems  of  house, 
329. 

Consumption.  See  Tuberculosis. 

Cooperation,  definition  of,  295. 

Co-Partnership  Tenants  Soci- 
ety, 291,  294. 

Courtyards  and  housing,  292, 
o21. 

Cows,  food  of,  42. 

Crystallization,  161,  162,  167, 
170,  187. 

Curtis  Pub.  Co.,  lunch-rooms  of, 
122. 

Deaths  from  suffocation  and  gas- 
poisoning  in  sewers,  222. 
Density  of  population,  310. 


INDEX 


367 


Diet,  discussion  of,  94  et  seq. ;  of 
average  American,  105,  111. 

Diphtheria,  36,  49,  195,  267. 

Disease,  carriers  of,  33,  42 ; 
causes  of  preventable,  306 ; 
causes  of,  in  tenements,  280 ; 
cost  of  preventable,  306 ; 
Filth  Theory  of,  142 ;  germs, 
25,  36,  90;  intestinal,  31,  35, 
66,  166;  ordinary  causes  of, 
129;  problem,  329;  spread 
of,  26,  205,  267 ;  water-borne, 
135,  165,  173,  181. 

Dresden,  housing  in,  273. 

Dust,  and  disease,  9  ;  and  house- 
hold furniture,  15 ;  composi- 
tion of ,  1 1 ;  in  air,  8  ;  in  houses, 
15;  iron,  23;  of  street,  159, 
165;  storms  of  cities,  1,  14; 
subway,  21,  23. 

Dysentery,  195. 

Baling,  286,  293. 

Education,  vocational,  125. 

Efficiency,  increase  and  preser- 
vation of,  58,  92,  126,  272; 
value  of  food  in  producing  or 
diminishing,  93,  114. 

Engine,  human  frame  as,  2. 

Engineer,  Sanitary,  157. 

England,  contact  bed  system  in, 
149 ;  Cooperative  Societies  in, 
328 ;  hooligans  in,  263  ;  water- 
supply  of,  127. 

English  courts,  sanitation  of, 
270;  Garden  Cities,  286;  Hous- 
ing Act,  282 ;  investigations 
of  sanitary  reforms,  202  ;  slum 
buildings,  269. 

Epidemics,  caused  by  decayed 
food,  66 ;  from  air,  belief  in,  9 ; 
from  sewer-gas,  belief  in,  195. 

Epidemiology,  of  ice,  177. 

Europe,  housing  in  continental, 
272,  277,  278,  308 ;  unskilled 
labor  in,  266 ;  use  of  sterilized 
milk  in,  48. 

European  froight  yard  signals, 

200 
Do. 


Factory  luncheons,  118,  121. 

Farm,  dairy,  38,  43. 

Farm,  food,  160 ;  use  of  ice,  159. 

Federal  control  of  noise,  255. 

Feudalism  and  housing,  272. 

Fever,  scarlet,  129 ;  typhoid, 
182 ;  yellow,  129. 

Filtration  of  sewage,  continuous 
methods  of,  148,  149;  gen- 
eral, 148  et  seq. ;  intermit- 
tent methods  of,  148, 150 ;  sand 
filter,  152,  155  ;  trickling  filter 
for,  150,  151. 

Filtration  of  water,  continuous, 
136;  general,  135  et  seq.; 
household  filters  for,  139 ;  me- 
chanical filters  for,  138,  156 ; 
sediment  layers  for,  137,  139. 

Fire  protection,  322. 

Fires  in  tenement  houses,  324, 
325,  326. 

Food,  over  and  under-feeding, 
1 10 ;  perishable,  60 ;  preserva- 
tion, 64,  66 ;  sources  of  supply 
of,  59. 

Foods,  adulteratives  of,  66  ;  ad- 
vertised, 107 ;  and  Drugs  Act, 
69 ;  as  a  source  of  energy,  58 ; 
as  fuel,  2  ;  cereals,  106 ;  cook- 
ing of,  1 13 ;  cost  of,  111;  de- 
composition of,  60,  61 ;  ele- 
ments in,  95 ;  inspection  and 
control,  68,  71,  74;  laws,  67, 
70 ;  nutrients  in,  96,  97  ;  of  in- 
dividual, 71,  92;  of  the  city, 
59  et  seq. ;  of  the  poor,  73. 

Fourth  of  July,  celebration  of, 
260. 

France,  water-supply  of,  127. 

Frankfort,  light  for  dwellings 
in,  27. 

Fungi,  62. 

"  Garden   Cities,"   purpose   and 

maintenance  of,  286. 
Gardens,    allotment   system   of, 

280 ;  encouragement  of,  280. 
Genval,  housing  in,  300. 
Germ  life,  11,  178. 


368 


INDEX 


German,  alleys,  sanitation  of, 
270 ;  building  requirements, 
274 ;  citizen's  welfare  a  mat- 
ter of  state  action,  271 ;  hous- 
ing 273,  279,  332;  improve- 
ments in  standards  of  living, 
281  ;  investigations  of  sewer 
conditions,  202 ;  light  require- 
ments, 27 ;  location  of  dwell- 
ings, 278 ;  milk  inspection,  33 ; 
sanitarians,  their  theories  of 
sewer-gas,  205  ;  town  markets, 
75  ;  treatment  of  sewage,  143 ; 
water-supply,  127,  133. 

Gibraltar,  investigations  of  Ma- 
jor Horrocks  at,  214. 

Glasgow,  housing  conditions  of, 
267. 

Gravity,  force  of,  and  its  influ- 
ence in  cleansing  ice,  164,  167, 
187. 

Grippe,  outdoor  treatment  of, 
19. 

Hamburg,  housing  in,  273. 

Hampstead,  housing  in,  286. 

Harborne,  housing  in,  286. 

Health  of  Towns  Commission  in 
Great  Britain,  142. 

Health,  public  and  scientific  in- 
vestigations, 185. 

Heat  absorption  in  cold-storage 
processes,  109;  of  subway, 
21. 

Height  of  buildings  in  slums, 
269. 

Hisbaye,  village  life  in,  300. 

Horse,  an  anachronism  in  the 
city,  20. 

Hospital,  Boston  Floating,  50. 

Housing,  abroad,  263 ;  and  feu- 
dalism, 272  ;  artistic  devel- 
opment in,  331 ;  by  private 
enterprise,  275,  333 ;  city  de- 
partment of,  341,  342;  com- 
missions, composition  and 
duties  of,  329,  330;  decision 
of  Supreme  Court  of  United 
States,  334 ;  for  employees  of 


corporations,  119,  289  et  seq., 
328;  improvement  in  city, 
298 ;  in  back  to  back  houses, 
320 ;  in  barrack  houses,  273, 
274 ;  in  cellar  dwellings,  285 ; 
initiative  in  movement  for  re- 
form in,  328 ;  in  suburb,  one 
solution  of  problem,  289,  301 ; 
in  United  States,  308,  332  ; 
lack  of  decent,  265 ;  loca- 
tion of  dwellings,  277,  311, 
331 ;  Massachusetts  legisla- 
tion concerning,  344 ;  munici- 
pal, 272,  332;  needs,  263; 
on  office  sites,  277,  311,  331; 
personal  side  of,  296,  330; 
possibilities  along  railroad 
routes,  341  ;  regulations  con- 
cerning municipal  water, 
322;  regulations,  327,  331, 
333,  341,  343  ;  repairs,  275  ; 
speculation,  275,  280 ;  use  of 
courtyard  plans,  321 ;  work 
of  English  Health  Council, 
284 ;  work  of  individual  cities, 
329.  See  also  Tenements, 
Slums,  and  names  of  individ- 
ual cities  and  towns,  as  Lon- 
don and  Bournville. 
Humidity  of  subway,  21. 

Ice,  158 ;  artificial  manufacture 
of,  168  et  seq. ;  cars,  159 ; 
consumption  of,  160  ;  control, 
191 ;  crystals,  158, 162;  dealer, 
166,  191;  demand  for,  161; 
dirt  in,  165  ;  epidemics  from, 
176  ;  impurities  of,  164,  171 ; 
infected  by  handling,  159, 
188,  193 ;  natural  formation 
of,  161  et  seq. ;  sources  of, 
161,190;  use  in  America,  160; 
use  in  city,  159,  160;  use 
of,  abroad,  160;  water,  159, 
160. 

Immigrants  and  housing,  309, 
332 ;  possibilities  of  vocational 
schools  for,  117;  settlements 
of,  308. 


INDEX 


369 


Immunity   of    individual    from 

disease,  15. 
Indicator  germs,  217. 
Industries,  centralization  of,  290. 
Infusoria,  action  on  bacteria  in 

water,  186. 
Insurance,  obligatory,  271. 

Jersey    City,   water-supply    of, 

152. 

July,  infant  mortality  of,  31. 
June,  infant  mortality  of,  31. 

Labor  unions,  their  work  in 
housing,  328. 

Laboratory,  reliance  on,  186. 

La  Hulpe,  housing  in,  300. 

Land,  cost  of,  for  housing,  301. 

Laundry,  cooperative,  324. 

Lead-poisoning,  171. 

Letchworth,  Garden  City,  286. 

Light,  and  germs  of  tuberculo- 
sis, 26,  304 ;  as  impulse  to 
cleanliness,  25,  26,  28 ;  effects 
of  sun,  25 ;  lack  of,  in  tene- 
ments and  slum,  25,  270. 

Lighting,  of  dark  living-rooms 
in  New  York,  305 ;  of  fac- 
tory, home,  and  shop,  28 ;  re- 
quirementsy  27,  29 ;  sun  vs. 
artificial,  27. 

Lignum,  63. 

Liverpool,  cost  of  housing  in, 
283. 

London  Cooperative  Laundry, 
324 ;  County  Council-and  hous- 
ing, 324, 339 ;  housing  in,  308 ; 
markets  of,  76 ;  pavements  of, 
243;  public  health  in  1858, 
223 ;  street  cries  of,  249 ;  use 
of  sewers  1815,  141. 

Lords'  action  on  Housing  Bill, 
284. 

Lot  covering  and  housing,  316. 

Lunch-rooms,  questions  on,  Na- 
tional Civic  Federation,  123. 

Magdeburg,  housing  in,  273. 
Malaria,  129. 


Manchester  (Eng.)  requirements 
on  ventilation  of  water-closets, 
323. 

Manhattan,  density  of  buildings 
in,  310. 

Markets,  American,  76  ;  central- 
ization of,  77 ;  control  and 
inspection  of,  77 ;  location  and 
construction  of,  79,  80  ;  pub- 
lic ownership  of,  81. 

Mass.  Institute  of  Technology, 
157,  182,  207 ;  State  Board  of 
Health,  analyses  of  natural  ice, 
177 ;  State  Board  of  Health, 
work  on  sewage-disposal  and 
water  at  Lawrence,  148. 

Masters,  Mates,  and  Pilots, 
American  Assoc.  of,  255. 

Measles,  129. 

Meat  inspection  amendment  to 
Pure  Food  Law,  69 ;  diet,  100 
et  seq. 

Metropolitan  Water  Works  Sys- 
tem in  Boston,  sewage-dispo- 
sal plants  of,  134. 

Micro-organisms,  decomposing 
action  of,  63,  64,  66  ;  destruc- 
tion by  cold  of,  183  ;  in  air,  9, 
11  ;  in  alimentary  canal,  130 ; 
in  kitchen,  26 ;  in  sewage, 
147 ;  in  soil,  11 ;  in  water, 
165,  173,  177,  181.  See  also 
Bacteria. 

Milk,  adulteration  of,  37;  as  a 
food  for  children,  31 ;  as  a 
medium  for  the  spread  of  dis- 
ease, 33  ;  bacteria  in,  41 ;  bac- 
terial life  in,  34,  46 ;  bottled, 
43  ;  certified,  55 ;  cleanliness 
of,  43  ;  difficulties  in  the  in- 
spection of,  33  ;  distribution  of, 
50 ;  frauds  in,  38 ;  inspection 
by  milk  officials,  45 ;  souring 
of,  35  ;  standards,  45 ;  supply, 
30;  tests  for,  41,  45  et  seq.; 
the  hired  milker,  41. 

Milwaukee  ordinance  on  smoke 
nuisance,  7. 

Monte  Rosa,  bacteria  on,  178. 


370 


INDEX 


Mortality,  infant,  30. 
Moulds,  characteristics  of,  62. 

Natural  conditions  reproduced 
in  laboratory,  175. 

New  York,  bacteria  in  water  of, 
217,  220;  cellar  dwellings  of, 
305  ;  Citizens'  Exhibit  of  con- 
ditions under  Tammany,  313; 
Committee  on  Congestion  of 
population  in,  306 ;  cost  of 
preventable  disease  in,  306 ; 
dark  living-rooms  in,  305 ; 
efforts  to  suppress  unneces- 
sary noise,  2i~>2  et  seq. ;  fires, 
326 ;  lack  of  fire-escapes,  327 ; 
model  abattoir,  85 ;  model 
tenements  in,  312  ;  overcrowd- 
ing in,  315,  319,  320,  321  ; 
"  Quiet  Zone  "  ordinance,  258 ; 
slum  streets  in,  270 ;  subway 
air,  21,  23;  tenement  house 
bureau,  342. 

Newark  law  to  regulate  noise, 
251. 

Nitrogenous  equilibrium,  104. 

Noise,  a  cause  of  nervous  ex- 
haustion, 232,  233;  and  its 
effect  in  sick  room,  235  et  seq.; 
campaign  against  unnecessary, 
254  et  seq. ;  diminished  by 
subway,  2*44  ;  Federal  control 
of,  255 ;  habit,  234 ;  necessary, 
232;  of  cats  and  dogs,  246; 
of  church  bells,  245 ;  of  elec- 
tric bells  as  better  than  that 
of  whistles,  240 ;  of  fire  alarms, 
245 ;  of  hurdy-gurdy,  247, 257 ; 
of  milkmen,  247;  of  railroad 
signaling,  239  ;  of  street  cries, 
248,  257;  of  traffic,  242  et 
seq. ;  of  transportation,  237, 
243,  244,  253;  of  whistles, 
230,  236,  237,  253;  remedies, 
250 ;  stimulus  of,  231  ;  unne- 
cessary, 232. 

Offenbach-am-Main,  reduction 
of  death-rate  in,  281. 


Old   age   pensions  in  Germany, 

271. 
Overcrowding,  26,  265.    See  also 

Slums  and  Tenements. 
Oysters  in  ice,  171. 

Paris,  first  modern  market  in, 
75;  ice-supply  of ,  177 ;  sewage 
farms  of,  146. 

Pasadena,  Cal.,  sewage  farm  of, 
147. 

Pasteurization  of  milk,  47,  49 
et  seq. 

Pathogenic  germs,  36,  90,  187  ; 
definition  of,  182. 

Pavements  and  cleanliness,  19, 
28  ;  and  noise,  242. 

Phagocytes,  4. 

Philadelphia,  housing  in,  317. 

Playgrounds,  292,  321. 

Plumbers,  National  Assoc.  of 
Master,  206 ;  Sanitary  Com- 
mittee of  Master,  207,  215, 
218. 

Plumbing,  194;  effects  of  poor, 
227;  essentials  of,  208;  in 
tenement  houses,  323 ;  re- 
quirements of  states,  227 ; 
U-trap,  vents  in,  209.  See  also 
Sewage. 

Plymouth,  Penn.,  typhoid  epi- 
demic in,  128. 

Pneumonia,  modern  treatment 
of,  195,  267. 

Port  Sunlight,  housing  in, 
286. 

Property,  limitations  on  owner- 
ship of  real,  344. 

Prussia,  building  plans  of,  279. 

Pullman  car  and  the  bacteria  of 
disease,  18. 

Quartier,  street  cries  of,  249. 
"  Quiet  Zone  "  law,  257. 

Races  of  bacteria,  184. 

Railways  and  housing,  234,  299 ; 
elevated  system,  336;  rates, 
graded  on  distance,  338,  340; 


INDEX 


371 


steam,  distribution  of  popula- 
tion, 337;  subway,  336;  sur- 
face, 335.  See  also  Transit. 

Refrigerators,  159. 

Rent,  expenditure  for,  266,  298, 
331. 

Resistance,  vital,  16,  222. 

Sanitary  reform,  difficulties  of, 
318. 

Saxony,  lighting  regulations,  27  ; 
building  regulations,  279. 

Sewage  as  fertilizer,  146;  com- 
position of  gases  from,  197 ; 
danger  from,  141  ;  diluted 
with  water,  143 ;  disposal  of, 
128;  effluent,  152;  filtration 
of,  135,  156;  flow  of,  200; 
germ  infection  from,  198 ;  of 
country  house,  155  ;  oxidation 
of,  145  ;  pollution  from,  131 ; 
putrefaction  and  nitrification 
of,  144  ;  separation  of  wastes, 
143 ;  sources  of,  197 ;  the 
home  of  bacteria,  130 ;  use  of 
septic  tank,  153,  198. 

Sewer  air,  examination  of,  199. 

Sewer-gas,   194 ;    belief   in    bad 
effect  of,    194 ;   definition  of,  j 
196 ;  does  it  predispose  to  dis-  ! 
ease  ?  196,  220 ;  germs  rising 
from,  196,  210,  218 ;  research, 
211  et  seq. 

Signals,  used  in  place  of  whistle, 
239. 

Slum,  as  a  culture  medium  of 
disease,    303  ;    characteristics,  ] 
318  ;    clearance    in   England,  ! 
283;  disease,  266;    dumping, 
270;  eradication  in  Germany,  i 
272 ;  government,   341 ;    hold  I 
upon  inhabitants  of,  265,  266  ;  i 
influence   of    topography   on,  j 
319 ;    reason    of    continuance 
of.  301 ;  rents,  278  ;  sanitary  j 
habits,    270.     See  also   Tene-  ! 
ments,      Overcrowding,      and  j 
Housing. 

Smoke,  and  ventilation,  5  ;  con-  ' 


snmers,  6,  8,  28 ;  effect  on 
city,  3  et  seq. ;  inspection  of 
factory,  6,  7  ;  inspector,  8 ; 
nuisance,  7,  8,  28 ;  nuisance 
and  the  opinions  of  unions  of 
firemen  and  engineers,  7. 

Smoke  ordinances,  7. 

Snow  ice,  165,  192. 

Societies,  building,  275 ;  cooper  - 
ative,  291,  293,  294,  328. 

Society  for  the  Suppression  of 
Unnecessary  Noise,  257. 

Solids  in  the  lungs,  5. 

Sterilization  of  milk,  47. 

St.  George's  Parish,  N.  Y.,  wel- 
fare work,  124. 

St.  Louis,  housing  in,  317. 

St.  Paul,  smoke  nuisance,  7. 

Storage,  effects  on  ice  of,  185. 

Street  cleaning,  20. 

Street  plans  in  model  city,  276. 

Suburbs,  development  of,  289, 
298,  338. 

Subway  and  housing,  336  et 
seq. ;  and  abatement  of  noise, 
244 ;  smells,  21 ;  temperature 
of,  21. 

Tammany,  housing  conditions 
under,  314. 

Taxes  and  housing  plans,  333. 

Tenement,  dumb-bell,  311 ;  fire- 
escapes,  327 ;  model,  275, 
278  ;  roof  possibilities,  292. 

Tenements  as  fire  centres,  325. 
See  also  Slum,  Overcrowding, 
and  Housing. 

Thames,  historic  smell  of,  223. 

Town  planning,  England,  285 ; 
Germany,  275. 

Town  plans,  333. 

Trade,  boards  of,  333. 

Traffic  routes  and  housing,  276. 

Transit,  and  area  for  buildings, 
336;  and  housing,  337;  cost 
of,  338 ;  to  and  from  suburbs, 
298,  300,  334;  workingmen's 
trains,  299,  340.  See  also  Rail- 
ways. 


372 


INDEX 


Treatment,  medical,  for  German 
workmen,  271. 

Tuberculosis,  and  dust,  5, 16, 17, 
18,  26 ;  bovine,  42  ;  deaths  in 
slums  from,  17,  302,  304  ;  ex- 
hibits, 302  ;  germs  of,  23,  26, 
49,  304;  in  slums,  267,  303; 
in  tenement  houses,  303  ;  out- 
door treatment  of,  19 ;  spread 
of,  305. 

Tubes,  culture,  185. 

Tubs,  in  model  tenements,  323. 

Typhoid  infection,  33,  36,  49, 
129,  166,  195. 

Ulm,  lighting  regulations  of,  27. 

Vancouver,  B.  C.,  control  of 
milk  in,  56. 

Ventilation  and  air  filters,  20 ; 
in  slums,  269 ;  of  tenements, 
313  ;  of  water-closets,  322  et 
seq. 

Viability    of    typhoid   bacillus,  ! 
182. 

Vienna,  ice-supply  of,  177 ;  mar- 
kets of,  76. 

Vocation  of  home-keeping,  113. 


130 ;  as  a  luxury  of  the  slum, 
271 ;  bacterial  infection  of, 
130, 173  ;  chemical  analysis  of, 
134 ;  chemical  cleansing  of, 
152 ;  continuous  filter,  136, 
148  ;  control  of  sources,  189  ; 
filtration,  135  et  seq. ;  from 
polluted  sources,  134 ;  from 
rains,  153 ;  ground,  131 ; 
ground  and  natural  filtration 
of,  132 ;  increase  of  bacteria 
in,  by  washings  from  rains, 
153 ;  infection  of,  173 ;  me- 
chanical filter,  136,  148;  of 
country  house,  155 ;  reservoirs, 
134 ;  storage  systems,  135  ; 
supply  and  ice,  170,  172  ;  sup- 
ply and  typhoid  in  Plymouth, 
Penn.,  1885,  129, 133 ;  supply 
for  tenements,  322  ;  supply, 
guarding  purity  of  the,  1 28  ; 
supply  of  U.  S.,  127  ;  supplies, 
source  of,  127,  189 ;  surface, 
181. 

Westinghouse  Co.,  lunch-rooma 
of,  122. 

Women,  industrial  training  of, 
115,  116. 

Workmen's  savings  and  housing 
investment,  328. 


Wage  and  housing,  331. 
Waltham  Watch  Co.,  lunch-room 

of,  122. 
Washington,  alley  problem  of, 

318;     infant    mortality,    30; 

needs  of  tenant  In,  321. 
Water,  as  a  carrier  of  disease,  !  Zone  System,  278. 


Yale  University  experiments  iu 

dieting,  101. 
Yeasts,  62. 


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